Tradition dictates short, catchy names to facilitate communication in an emergency
The assignment of a code name to US political leaders by the Secret Service — or the White House Communications Agency — ceased to be classified information decades ago and became part of the mystique surrounding the US administration (like the briefcase that carries the keys to nuclear weapons, the ‘soccer ball’).
However, and especially during the election period, the media slip in the nicknames assigned to the president, the first lady, members of the cabinet and even prominent personalities: the Spanish actor Antonio Banderas was given the code name ‘Zorro’, in honour of his films about the Mexican hero.
For this occasion, the newspapers ‘New York Post’ and ‘Daily Mail’ published the names used during the campaign by the then Republican candidates for President and Vice President, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, known respectively as ‘Mogul’ and ‘Bobcat’, identifiers, like all previous ones, linked to the personal life of the people that the Secret Service is going to protect. Trump, for his facet as a businessman and Vance for having been born in Ohio, where the bobcat is one of the native animals of the state.
In reality there are almost no preconditions for their designation. They have to be brief, to facilitate communication between the members of the security detail, and they begin with the same letter for all members of the family of the protected in question.
The first known nickname for a US president is ‘General’, which was given to Harry Truman (1945-1953), at the beginning of a tradition continued by his successors: John F. Kennedy was given the code name ‘Lancer’ (an allusion to the Arthurian legend of Camelot which he intended to make his administration), while Ronald Reagan was given the nickname ‘Rawhide’, the cowboy series starring Clint Eastwood decades earlier and which honoured the acting background of the president, a ‘western’ figure in his younger years.
In recent times, this tradition has regained importance in public opinion when President Barack Obama’s nickname was announced: ‘Renegade’ (‘Renegade’). His wife and first lady, Michelle, was given the name ‘Renaissance’ (‘Renaissance’). Trump was given the name ‘Tycoon’ as soon as he took over his succession. His wife, Melania, was given the designation ‘Muse’ (‘Muse’).
For now, Trump is keeping his nickname after his November victory over outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, codenamed ‘Pioneer’, but it is unknown whether he will keep it in January, when he will once again occupy the ‘Castle’, as the Secret Service knows the White House.
Politicians are not the only ones to whom the Secret Service has given code names. Frank Sinatra, a close friend of John F. Kennedy, had his own code name, ‘Napoleon’. Pope John Paul II was ‘Halo’, and Queen Elizabeth II of England was known as ‘Kittyhawk’ (one of the British Air Force’s favourite fighter planes in World War II). Her son and current British monarch, Charles III of England, is known as ‘Unicorn’, as detailed by former agent Joseph Petro in his book ‘Next to History: The Life of a Secret Service Agent’.
