Trump officials moving onto military bases
Senior Trump appointees Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, and Kristi Noem have relocated to U.S. military bases, occupying homes previously assigned to senior officers, due to direct threats of political violence. Katie Miller reported on Fox News that a stranger confronted her at her home, saying, “I’m watching you,” the day after Charlie Kirk’s September assassination.
Protests had escalated weeks before, with neighborhood wanted posters accusing Stephen Miller of Nazi-like “crimes against humanity.” Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity posted on Instagram: “Your efforts to dismantle our democracy and destroy our social safety net will not be tolerated here.”
Stephen Miller described these as “organized campaigns of dehumanization, vilification, posting peoples’ addresses,” and used the incidents to announce a crackdown on liberal groups.
At least six senior officials now reside in Washington-area military housing, displacing uniformed officers and reducing available quarters for generals. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved from her D.C. apartment to the Coast Guard commandant’s residence on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling after the Daily Mail published her address.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth occupy homes on Fort McNair’s Generals’ Row, where Rubio assembled delivered furniture one evening. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll shares a residence at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall with another appointee and initially used Army Chief Randy George’s washing machine due to a malfunction.
After Kirk’s killing, an unnamed White House official relocated to base housing on security officials’ recommendation, citing a specific foreign threat. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s request for Fort McNair quarters was denied for lack of space.
Past defense secretaries Robert Gates, Jim Mattis, and Mike Pompeo used base housing, but the current number of civilian appointees is unprecedented, overlapping with Trump’s National Guard deployments in Democratic cities as “training grounds” against the “enemy within,” tensions appear to be mounting.