Military Raised Water Level of River in Ohio for JD Vance’s Family Boating Trip
The Secret Service said the boats the agency uses for security are usually motorized and need deeper waters to operate.
Vice President JD Vance took his family on a boating trip in Ohio for his 41st birthday. Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times
 
By Lisa Friedman and Eileen Sullivan
Reporting from Washington
Aug. 7, 2025
Military engineers raised the levels of a river in Ohio so the Secret Service could provide security to Vice President JD Vance during a family boating trip, agency officials said Thursday.
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Mr. Vance, said the vice president had not been aware the request had been made to alter the water flow into the Little Miami River on Aug. 2. The Vances took the boat excursion on the vice president’s 41st birthday.
“The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the vice president or his staff, as was the case last weekend,” Ms. Van Kirk said.
Ohio Democrats and others criticized the trip after The Guardian reported that river levels were raised for it.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said that for security reasons, the agency asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to temporarily increase water flow from Caesar Creek Lake, which is connected to the river.
The boats used by the Secret Service for security or an emergency evacuation are usually motorized and need deeper waters to operate, he said. Smaller boats like the ones the Vances were using, such as kayaks and canoes, can operate in shallower waters.
Mr. Guglielmi also said that the Service and local public safety officials conducted a scouting mission ahead of the excursion. During that time, one of the local public safety boats ran aground, an indication that the water level was too low for that vessel.
In 1999, as he campaigned for president, Vice President Al Gore faced questions after a local utility poured millions of gallons of water into the drought-stricken Connecticut River, to keep Mr. Gore from running aground.
Eugene Pawlik, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps, said changes to water outflows are a “recurring process” throughout the year depending on the weather and other factors.
“The Secret Service request did not fall outside our normal operating parameters,” he said.
Mr. Pawlik added that no waivers were needed, and that the outflow change did not have an adverse effect on downstream or upstream water levels.
Lisa Friedman is a Times reporter who writes about how governments are addressing climate change and the effects of those policies on communities.
Eileen Sullivan is a Times reporter covering the changes to the federal work force under the Trump administration.
See more on: JD Vance, U.S. Secret Service, Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Politics
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