Keen-eyed observers may have noticed something unusual about one of the buses that Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz used during a recent campaign tour in Pennsylvania. Though wrapped in a livery pledging a “New Way Forward” for America, the vehicle underneath was one of the U.S. Secret Service’s heavily customized and armored “Ground Force Ones.”
Other presidential candidates and their running mates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have also made use of the bespoke Secret Service buses covered in their respective campaign colors in the past. Specialized transportation methods, including trains, have long been a central feature in U.S. presidential election campaigning, as well.
“Per U.S. Office of Special Counsel guidelines, the U.S. Secret Service may permit presidential and vice presidential candidates under U.S. Secret Service protection to wrap agency buses for use during their campaigns, with the requirement that candidates pay for all expenses related to the bus wrapping,” Alexi Worley, a spokesperson for the agency, told The War Zone.
The use of Ground Force Ones with explicit partisan wrapping is compliant with the Hatch Act as long as it is not restricted to candidates from one party or another, a U.S. Secret Service official, speaking on background, added. The Hatch Act, also known as An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, which first became law in 1939 and has been amended multiple times since then, imposes limits on how and when federal employees can engage in partisan political activity.
The War Zone has reached out to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for more information about the laws and regulations impacting the use of the Ground Force One buses for presidential campaigning. It’s also unclear whether the legal guidance relating to the buses might extend to other platforms, like the Secret Service’s specialized presidential limousines, nicknamed “Beasts,” or military aircraft like the VC-25A Air Force One jets.
The U.S. Secret Service would not explicitly say that Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz have been making use of one of the armored buses for campaigning. “Out of concern for operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not discuss our protective means or methods.”
However, the two Ground Force Ones, which first entered service in 2011 during President Barack Obama’s first term in office, have a very distinctive look. Key features, including thick armored glass, reinforced main door, satellite communications antennas and air conditioning units on top, and red and blue police-style lights at the front and back, are clearly visible in pictures from the recent Harris/Walz campaign stops in Pennsylvania.
The ‘shell’ the bus is an X3-45 VIP 3 model from Prevost (previously Prevost Car), a Canadian subsidiary of the bus division of Sweden’s Volvo Group. However, the Ground Force Ones were subsequently heavily modified for their current operators by Nashville, Tennessee-based Hemphill Brothers Coach Company. The total purchase cost of each of the buses was around $1.1 million in the end, or close to $1.6 million today’s dollars.
Details about the modifications are, understandably, classified. However, they are understood to include a robust secure communications suite, armor and other defensive countermeasures, and additional features in line with what are found on the Beast presidential limos, which you can learn more about here. Pictures of Ground Force Ones over the years show the antenna fit on top has changed, which is unsurprising given what is known about how the communications suites in Secret Service vehicles have evolved, as The War Zone has reported on in the past. The buses are accompanied by a larger motorcade, as well.
In an episode of the web series Jay Leno’s Garage on the Beast in July, a Secret Service agent told comedian and car enthusiast Jay Leno that the Ground Force Ones are used so infrequently for regular presidential travel that drivers typically have to be specially trained or retrained ahead of their employment.
However, as already noted, presidential and vice presidential candidates have used them for campaigning since 2011, starting with President Obama. President Obama drew some criticism for using one of the pricey and not-entirely American buses, in its standard black livery, during his re-election campaign the following year. A Ground Force One was also at least made available to his opponent, Mitt Romney.
As already noted, Ground Force Ones have been an option for presidential and/or vice presidential candidates who are receiving Secret Service protection since then, including while wearing campaign wraps.
In 2020, one of the Ground Force Ones in Trump/Pence campaign livery got in a minor accident with the Vice Preisdent on board while driving through rural Pennsylvania. Pence was not injured in the incident, but continued on to his destination in a limousine instead.
Though attempted assassinations of U.S. presidents and presidential candidates are relatively rare, there is still a real threat as was made clear when former President Donald Trump was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July. In addition, incumbent presidents and vice presidents are also still required to be able to discharge their executive duties even while campaigning. For the sitting president, this could include ordering a nuclear strike. As such, it is important that they have access to secure communications lines at all times, including via vehicles like Ground Force One.
If Vice President Harris or former President Donald Trump, or their respective running mates, head out on the campaign trail again by bus between now and November, it is very possible that we could see more of the wrapped-up Ground Force Ones.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com