How Secure is Mar-a-Lago?
Were the nation's nuclear codes safe inside of the 24-acre compound or should President Biden have the Defense Department change them?
Soon after the Department of Justice was forced to provide former President Trump with a detailed inventory of the items seized from his home the media began complaining about the security at Mar-a-Lago. Throughout the four years of his presidency, there were barely any concerns about the security of the former president’s home but suddenly the Biden administration decided it was politically expedient to task former erotic bookstore owner, Avril Haines, to conduct a national security risk assessment.
Someone should tell Mrs. Haines that Trump hosted a Chinese delegation at Mar-a-Lago that included President Xi and his wife along with high-level CPC officials - at least one of whom is a Chinese spy.1 Perhaps they snuck into Melania’s underwear drawers to write down the nuclear codes.
Former DOJ official, Mary McCord made a point to suggest that Mar-a-Lago is particularly insecure and a haven for foreign agents and governments and represents a “significant national security threat”.2 The fact of the matter is that almost all of the security concerns being reported are a direct result of a lack of understanding about the compound—the president’s residence is basically a fortress within a fortress. Just as there are security incidents at the White House there are security incidents at the compound—fortunately, they are dealt with and have never made their way into the secure office and residential areas.
For example, in one case a woman who claimed to be part of the Rothchild banking family managed to secure an invite to the club adjacent to the former president’s residence. The Pittsburgh Gazette reported this as a failure of the security at Trump’s club—in fact, the club’s security identified the woman as a possible con artist and she is now under investigation by the FBI’s Miami field office and the Canadian police. She never got anywhere close to Trump’s offices or residence.
Three years earlier a Chinese national falsely claimed to be a member of Mar-a-Lago. The Secret Service quickly determined she was lying and detained her. The woman was assumed to be an agent from the Chinese Ministry of State Security after she was found to be carrying two Chinese passports, $8,000 in cash, four cellphones, a laptop, an external hard drive, and a thumb drive containing sophisticated malware. She was sentenced to eight months in prison and deported to China upon her release.3 At the end of the day, the White House deals with more security incidents in a month than Mar-a-Lago does in a year.
In reality, Mar-a-Lago is one of the most secure compounds in America protected 24/7 by private security and the United States Secret Service. Located on a barrier island protected by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Florida Intracoastal Waterway to the west the property is built like a modern-day fortress. According to architectural drawings the properties walls, structures, and buildings are anchored deep into the coral stone featuring 3-foot thick walls. The majority of the 24-acre compound was owned by the federal government and served as the unofficial winter White House until its eventual sale to Donald Trump.4
The Mar-a-Lago compound consists of more than a dozen buildings including a members-only clubhouse, meeting facilities, a 20,000-square-foot grand ballroom, and the president’s private residence. The members-only club is located in the original mansion and consists of 126-rooms spread across almost 63,000 square feet. The floorplan detail below shows the club, the residence, and the command post.
Six years ago the Secret Service converted a suite adjacent to Trump’s personal residence into a command post (CP). Hardened and secured, the CP allows agents assigned to protect the president and his family to monitor the entire 24-acre property along with the various cameras and sensors protecting Trump’s personal residence and offices. Trump’s CP also was designed to meet Intelligence Community Standard ICS 705-1 & ICS 705-2 specifications to serve as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).5 As a result, the CP included communication facilities that provided the president with virtual connections to the Situation Room and the Pentagon. Last year the DHS upgraded the CP’s physical security buildout awarding a $580K contract to Arkansas-based CMN Systems.6
Mar-a-Lago is so secure the FBI had to notify the Secret Service of their plans to send in 30+ heavily armed agents a day before their planned raid. Had they not done so they would have faced a well-trained, well-armed, and dug-in opponent. There are a lot of things to worry about in this world—the security of Mar-a-Lago is not one of them.
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-s-mar-a-lago-resort-posed-rare-security-challenges-experts-say/6700459.html
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-s-mar-a-lago-resort-posed-rare-security-challenges-experts-say/6700459.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/27/fake-heiress-infiltrates-mar-a-lago-trump
When Donald Trump learned that Mar-a-Lago was being sold he offered the Post family $15 million for the property. The federal government had returned the property to the Posts who then listed it for sale at $20 million. The Posts were unwilling to sell the property to Trump for a number of reasons. In classic Trump fashion, he bought a strip of land separating Mar-a-Lago and the Atlantic Ocean from the former owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken for $2 million and announced plans to build a massive house that would block Mar-a-Lago’s beach view. As a result, the value of the property declined and the Posts ended up selling the property to Trump for $7 million including the interior furnishings alone appraised at $8 million. For a combined cost of $10 million Trump secured property worth at least $30 million on paper - today Mar-a-Lago is estimated to be worth more than $200 million and generates more than $20 million a year in revenue for the former president.
The Mar-a-Lago Club bills the United States Secret Sevice approximately $12,000 per month for the use of the Command Post space. While this may seem expensive the Secret Service pays more than $30,000 per month to rent the house next to Hunter Biden for use as a command post according to ABC News. The Secret Service agents who guard Trump and his family at Mar-a-Lago stay elsewhere.
https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_70US0921C70090048_7009_-NONE-_-NONE-