PARIS (AP) — An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde has found that the highly confidential movements of U.S. President Joe Biden, presidential rivals Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and other world leaders can easily be tracked online through a fitness app that tracks their use bodyguards.
But the US Secret Service told the newspaper that it does not believe the protection it provides has been compromised in any way.
Le Monde discovered that some US Secret Service agents are using the fitness app Strava, including in recent weeks after the two assassination attempts on Trump, in a video investigation released in French and English. Strava is a fitness tracking app used primarily by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share their workouts with a community.
Le Monde also found Strava users among the security staff of French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In one example, Le Monde traced the Strava movements of Macron’s bodyguards to determine that the French leader spent a weekend in the Normandy resort of Honfleur in 2021. The trip was private and not on the president’s official agenda.
Le Monde said the whereabouts of Melania Trump and Jill Biden could also be discovered by following the Strava profiles of their bodyguards.
In a statement to Le Monde, the U.S. Secret Service said its personnel are not allowed to use personal electronic devices while on duty during protective assignments, but that “we do not prohibit the personal use of social media by an off-duty employee.”
“Affected personnel have been notified,” the report said. “We will review this information to determine if additional training or guidance is needed.”
“We do not assess that there was any impact on protective operations or threats to any protected persons,” it added. Locations “are announced regularly as part of public planning releases.”
In another example, Le Monde reported that the Strava profile of a US Secret Service agent revealed the location of a hotel where Biden subsequently stayed in San Francisco in 2023 for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. A few hours before Biden’s arrival, Biden went jogging from the hotel, using Strava to track his route, the newspaper found.
The newspaper’s journalists say they have identified 26 American agents, 12 members of France’s GSPR, the Security Group of the Presidency of the Republic, and 6 members of Russia’s FSO, the Federal Protective Service, all of whom were responsible for presidential security. public accounts on Strava and therefore communicated their movements online, including during professional trips. Le Monde did not name the bodyguards for security reasons.
It said movements tracked on Strava could lead to security breaches, especially when security officers travel in advance to places such as hotels where leaders then stay and hold meetings.
Macron’s office said on Monday that the consequences of the problems reported by Le Monde “are very minor and in no way affect the security of the President of the Republic.”
Local authorities are aware of Macron’s movements in advance and the places where Macron stays are always completely safe, “so the risk is non-existent,” the statement said.
“The chief of staff nevertheless sent a reminder to officers asking them not to use this app,” Macron’s office added.
Identifying the presidential bodyguards – some are using their full names on Strava – could also help find other details about their personal addresses, their families, their movements and photos they have posted on various social media, all of which could potentially are used to pressure them for malicious purposes, the report points out.
