Security for Betsy DeVos has cost American taxpayers $12 million since she began her term as Education Secretary in February of 2017. According to Politico, the U.S. Marshals Service says over the next fiscal year, October 1 through the end of September, 2019, DeVos' security is projected to cost $7.74 million. The estimate for last year was inaccurate – taxpayers spent more to protect the controversial Cabinet member than projected. "DeVos’ security detail is provided around the clock by the Marshals Service, which is highly unusual — the past four Education secretaries have been protected by the Education Department’s own small security force," Politico notes. From February through September of 2017 the cost to protect DeVos was $5.28 million. From October of that year through the end of September 2018, the cost was $6.79 million. That's a total of just over $12 million to date. In an effort to curtail costs, DeVos pays for the Marshals to fly with her on her own private plane, and unlike the many Trump administration officials exposed for having taxpayers foot luxury travel, Secretary DeVos reportedly pays for all her private and public travel. The Marshals Service would not state the nature of the threats against DeVos. RELATED STORIES: BETSY DEVOS PLANNING TO ALLOW SCHOOLS TO USE FEDERAL FUNDS TO BUY GUNS OMAROSA: BETSY DEVOS MOCKED THE INTELLIGENCE OF BLACK STUDENTS EDUCATION EXPERTS: ‘BETSY DEVOS IS TERRIBLE AT HER JOB AND MUST RESIGN BEFORE SHE DOES FURTHER DAMAGE’<doc-sep>(CNN) — The security detail for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is projected to cost $7.74 million for the 2019 fiscal year, according to US Marshals Service spokeswoman Nikki Credic-Barrett. That would be about $1 million more than this year. The projection was higher than previous years because of estimates for cost of living increases and increases in travel and per diem costs, according to Credic-Barrett. Politico first reported the projected cost of her detail. DeVos started using a security detail from the US Marshals Service in February 2017 at the direction of Attorney General Jeff Sessions after her contentious confirmation battle and an encounter with protesters at a middle school in Washington. It is uncommon for the Marshals Service to protect Cabinet members, who usually receive security protection through their individual agencies. The Marshals Service conducted a threat assessment for DeVos and determined that a threat to her safety existed, Credic-Barrett said in an email. The US Marshals conduct regular threat assessments on the secretary to determine threats to her safety, Credic-Barrett said. For “operational security,” the US Marshals Service would not “disclose the number of employees providing protection or the nature of threats against the secretary,” according to a statement from the agency. The Marshals Service detail protecting DeVos cost $5.28 million from February 2017 through September 2017. In fiscal year 2018, which started in October 2017 and ran through September 2018, the detail cost $6.79 million, almost a million less than the 2019 projection. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Education and the US Marshals Service was signed in February 2017, when the Marshals Service began providing security for DeVos. That agreement is good for up to four years, but it can be canceled at any time by either agency with a 60-day notice, the Marshals Service said in a statement. The is the first time the agency has protected a Cabinet-level official since it safeguarded the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, US Marshals Service spokeswoman Lynzey Donahue previously told CNN. That position stopped being Cabinet level in 2009.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON – The cost to taxpayers of protecting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is going up and is expected to be nearly $8 million over the next year, a report says. The Washington, D.C.-based website and publication POLITICO reported this week that the cost of the security detail for the Michigan millionaire is expected to be $7.74 million between now and the end of September 2019, which is when the new fiscal year ends. That's according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides around-the-clock security for DeVos, who was a former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman, school of choice advocate and conservative fundraiser and donor before heading to Washington in 2017 to serve the Trump administration. A Marshals Service spokesman — who declined to say how many people are assigned to providing security for DeVos — said the final cost in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was $6.79 million. That was about $250,000 more than originally anticipated. Read more: Betsy DeVos says she won't stand in way of schools buying guns Betsy DeVos flubs question on Michigan schools on '60 Minutes' Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the security detail for DeVos even though it is unusual for an education secretary to receive such protection. But Sessions and the Justice Department deemed it necessary after DeVos began to attract protesters following her confirmation to the post. In the past, the Education Department's own small group of security personnel had provided protection for the secretary. According to POLITICO, DeVos and the Education Department have tried to find cost savings where possible, however, with a spokeswoman for the agency saying DeVos, for instance, herself pays for marshals to travel with her on her own private plane. The secretary also pays for all of her own private and public travel, the Education Department has said. Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.<doc-sep>An around the clock security detail doesn't come cheap—even if you're a Trump-appointed official who runs the Department of Education. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's security detail for the fiscal year 2019, which will run from Monday through the end of September 2019, will cost American taxpayers up to $7.74 million. The cost, first reported by Politico, was later confirmed to Newsweek by U.S. Marshals Service spokesperson Nikki Credic-Barrett. The final price tag could, however, end up costing more based on the previous year. The Education Department predicted it would spend up to $6.54 million in the 2018 fiscal year for DeVos's around the clock security detail, but ended up spending $6.79 million. Prior to that for fiscal year 2017, the U.S. Marshals Service said security costs for DeVos totaled $5.28 million. DeVos's use of U.S. marshals for security detail breaks from department norm and from her previous four predecessors, who all used the small security team supplied by the Education Department itself. The U.S. Marshal Service typically protects people like federal judges and witnesses, transports prisoners and captures fugitives. DeVos's increased security detail was originally ordered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and began in February 2017. Since then, the Trump administration has shown interest in having U.S. Marshals make up more of its security detail for "certain civilian executive branch agencies." This, the White House Office of Management and Budget told CNN in June, would allow the U.S. Marshal Service to "more effectively and efficiently monitor and respond to potential threats. Threat assessments would be conducted with support from the U.S. Secret Service," the plan added. When asked about the increased price tag and the need for around the clock security, the Education Department told Newsweek the "level of protection is assessed regularly and commensurate to the threat level." Citing "operational security reasons," the department would not provide more specifics. For an agency that the president had in the past advocated to cut drastically, and at times outright eliminate, such an increase in security costs over the past few years goes against President Donald Trump's narrative to reduce government spending. In Trump's February proposed budget, he suggested slashing the Education Department's funding by $3.7 billion, or a little more than 5 percent while pumping $1.6 billion into private and other school choice programs. DeVos has been a longtime advocate of charter and private schools. At the same time he has proposed education cuts, the president has also proposed an $80 billion increase in Defense Department spending—or $10 billion more than the entire Education Department's roughly $70 billion budget. Update: This article has been updated to include comment from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Education.<doc-sep>
An agreement between the Education Department and the Marshals Service governing Betsy DeVos' protective detail was just renewed for fiscal 2019, which began on Monday. | Matt Rourke/AP Photo Education DeVos’ security detail projected to cost up to $7.7M during the next year Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' security detail is projected to cost up to $7.74 million from now through the end of September 2019, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service told POLITICO on Tuesday night. The Marshals Service said the final cost of protection for DeVos in fiscal 2018 was $6.79 million. That's more than the $6.54 million officials estimated last year as the maximum for fiscal 2018, which the Education Department at that time deemed a "high water mark" that the agency didn't plan to exceed. An agreement between the Education Department and the Marshals Service governing DeVos' protective detail was just renewed for fiscal 2019, which began on Monday. DeVos’ security detail is provided around the clock by the Marshals Service, which is highly unusual — the past four Education secretaries have been protected by the Education Department’s own small security force. Her security detail, ordered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, began in February 2017. The cost of DeVos’ protective detail between February 2017 and September 2017 was $5.28 million — about $2.5 million less than what was projected. Both agencies have tried to find cost savings, Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill told POLITICO last year. For example, DeVos pays for the marshals to fly with her on her own private plane, which reduces travel costs, she said. DeVos foots the bill for all of her private and public travel. The Marshals Service declined to disclose the number of employees protecting DeVos or the nature of the threats against DeVos. The agreements signed by the Education Department and the U.S. Marshals Service includes salaries and benefits for the marshals, their travel and per diem expenses, one "leased and equipped limousine" for DeVos, and more, according to the first signed agreement. This article tagged under: Security Betsy DeVos