US election: Kamala Harris's Secret Service code name revealed
The presumptive Vice President nominee for the Democratic party in the US has reportedly been bestowed with a code name for use among secret service agents.
Kamala Harris will officially accept the party’s nomination to be Joe Biden’s running mate at the Democratic National Convention this week, and reportedly has a code name that reflects the historical nature of her selection.
According to CNN, the Californian senator has chosen “Pioneer” as her secret service moniker.
Ms Harris, the first black woman to be chosen as a VP candidate, was reportedly put under the auspices of the secret service following Joe Biden’s announcement last week. Those under protection of the federal agency get to choose their code names from a list that has been approved by the White House Communications Agency, CNN reported.
As the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, she is the first woman of colour and the first Indian-American to be on a major party presidential ticket.
The secret nature of the code names is somewhat of a relic these days. Their use was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted. However today, the tradition lives on for the purposes of brevity, clarity, and a bit of fun.
Politicians are able to choose their code names, which are often thought to symbolise their persona or speak to something important or unique about their self-image.
Joe Biden’s code name is “Celtic” and his wife, Jill Biden, goes by “Capri”. Meanwhile President Donald Trump's Secret Service name is “Mogul” and first lady Melania Trump is known as “Muse.”
Democratic convention: US ‘not the leader of the free world’
Joe Biden officially accepted the party’s nomination to take on Donald Trump in November’s election, as he made his case to heal a pandemic-battered nation at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday (local time).
On the second day of the event, Democrats turned to elder statesmen, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state John Kerry, to argue that Mr Biden has the experience and knowledge to restore normalcy after what they characterised as the chaos of Donald Trump's administration.
As they did on Monday's opening night, Democrats featured a handful of Republicans who have crossed party lines to praise Joe Biden, 77, over Donald Trump, 74.
Republican and former secretary of state Colin Powell, who endorsed Mr Biden in June, is one of several national security officials who spoke on the Democrat's behalf.
Mr Powell praised the values of the Democratic candidate, saying those values “need to be restored to the White House”.
“With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries, never the other way around,” he said. “He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the flattery of dictators and despots.”
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Meanwhile John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and secretary of state from 2013 to 2017, took aim at the president’s foreign policy, telling reporters before Tuesday night’s appearance that the “United States is not the leader of the free world” under Mr Trump.
“Donald Trump pretends Russia didn’t attack our elections. And now, he does nothing about Russia putting a bounty on our troops. So he won’t defend our country. He doesn’t know how to defend our troops. The only person he’s interested in defending is himself,” he said in his speech.
Bill Clinton, who was impeached during his time in the Oval Office over sexual misconduct, was criticised by conservatives for bashing Donald Trump during his address about his volatile and self-serving behaviour during his presidency.
Ms Harris will headline Wednesday night's program along with former president Barack Obama.
with AP
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