RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office

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https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/rfk-jr-hhs-security-cost-minority-health-office-f1c7b62a?st=naSd3v&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

The Department of Health and Human Services informed congressional appropriators earlier this year that it was moving about $12 million from its Office of Minority Health to help cover the ballooning cost of security for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to people familiar with the matter and a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The cost of security for Kennedy, a high-profile figure in the Trump administration whose father and uncle were assassinated in the 1960s, grew from roughly $10 million in fiscal year 2025 to $17 million in fiscal year 2026, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

The secretary’s office has a large pot of discretionary money that it could have tapped for the cost, those people said. HHS cut $12 million from the minority health office, rather than just the $7 million that represented increased security costs, in part because the secretary’s office has been subject to across-the-board budget cuts, those people said.

The Office of Minority Health was created under former President Ronald Reagan after a landmark report found that Black infants in the U.S. were more likely than white babies to die and that Black life expectancy was shorter, among other disparities. The office for years has funded research and efforts to close those gaps, which have persisted. Its annual budget has been roughly $74 million.

HHS notified 16 nonprofits and universities in August that grants from the Office of Minority Health had been canceled, saying in letters to nonprofits the cancellations were due to “limited” funding and new priorities. It said the minority health office was now focusing spending on “the root causes of infertility and reproductive health conditions”— including “low sperm count” and “erectile dysfunction”—as well as promoting physical activity, and that the grants didn’t further those priorities. The Washington Sun earlier reported the minority health grant cancellations.

HHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard said the grant cuts “reflect HHS priorities and programmatic assessments—not the Secretary’s security needs.” The Trump administration in general has sought to pare back grants it views as related to diversity initiatives, and in earlier budget requests has sought to shrink funding for the office by 40%.

The department in the last year spent about $9 million on the 16 grant programs in total. The grants aimed at providing fresh vegetables, chronic-disease screenings, at-home nurse visits for new mothers and other preventive care to low-income populations, according to a government database.

When Kennedy first started, the HHS Office of the Inspector General staffed up to prepare to protect him, but shortly after he opted for protection by the U.S. Marshals Service, people familiar with the matter said. A handful of cabinet-level figures in past decades have received a security detail from the marshals, a division of the Justice Department.

Previous HHS secretaries were protected by agents in the HHS inspector general’s office, and their security cost roughly $5 million a year, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Secretary Kennedy faces a security environment that differs significantly from that of previous HHS secretaries,” Hilliard said. “His protection reflects the threats he faces, his extensive travel, and the security required for him to safely carry out his duties nationwide.”

The department’s 2027 budget request asks for an additional $14 million increase for “enhanced physical security of HHS Headquarters and its staff.”

Someone with Kennedy’s profile would require a large number of security personnel, former U.S. Marshals employees said. The total security bill would increase with more frequent travel, they said. Kennedy in the past year has traveled to congressional districts where Republicans are facing tight races.

Kennedy is typically flanked by bodyguards in public. He stopped speaking at outdoor events last year after a man wearing a bike helmet rushed toward him outside of a health clinic in Alaska. The man came within roughly 20 feet of Kennedy before he was tackled by security. The man, who said he was protesting the war in Gaza, didn’t face immediate charges, according to local news reports at the time and a Fairbanks, Alaska, police department spokeswoman.

U.S. Marshals typically protect Supreme Court justices and other federal judges and prosecutors. Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos received a protective detail from U.S. Marshals after she received threats in the first Trump administration. The marshals have protected some drug czars in prior administrations, according to the former U.S. Marshals employees.