The process itself is highly unusual. The February 2024 release was framed by the Secret Service as a “final” response to the case. Yet, one year later, the agency issued another “final” release in February 2025, adding hundreds of pages of new material. The Black Vault never published those 2025 records at the time. Then, months later, the agency issued an appeal response, tied not to the 2025 set, but to the original 2024 release. This appeal response restored redacted details and acknowledged video files that had never been mentioned before.
Despite labeling the 2024 release as “final,” the Secret Service issued another large production in February 2025. This release, never previously reported by The Black Vault, added a wide range of internal correspondence and media-related communications that had not appeared before.
The records reveal repeated press inquiries about the scale of Commander’s biting incidents. On September 26, 2023, multiple reporters pressed the agency for a count. CNN asked if the latest episode was the 11th incident. Fox News, AFP, Newsweek, and others posed similar questions.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi replied:
“I do not have a count. These incidents are categorized as workplace injuries… In instances where an employee is bitten, the employee’s supervisor drafts an injury report. Typically these types of workplace injuries are not subject to public release.”
Some Secret Service staff vented their frustration. In one internal exchange, an officer reacted to a TMZ report:
“TMZ just reported a dog bite at the White House! Can we please find a way to get this dog muzzled.”
Another agent compared the situation to horror fiction:
“It’s like f—ing CUJO, haha!!!”
The 2025 records also include planning notes for a Secret Service “Town Hall” meeting in September 2023. Among the listed challenges:
“…the Bidens’ dog Commander being a continued danger.”
A particularly striking detail appears in October 2023 correspondence with CNN, which cited a source claiming 34 incidents in a 90-day period that summer. Internal notes suggest acknowledgment that the number of official reports may have been incomplete, and that bites also affected White House residence staff and ushers.
Media questions also referenced photos. ABC News asked the Secret Service about Daily Mail photographs purportedly showing Commander biting longtime White House grounds superintendent Dale Haney. Emails confirm the agency was pressed to verify whether Haney had been injured.
Separate from the 2025 production, the Secret Service processed an appeal The Black Vault filed against the February 2024 release. The appeal restored text that had been withheld under (b)(5) and, for the first time, acknowledged video files.
The appeal release restored narrative detail from a reimbursement claim:
“On the evening of March 6th 2021 I was working an evening shift at the White House… While leading the President and First Lady back from the Tennis Pavilion to the Residence… As Major came around the corner he attacked me, unprovoked, tearing the wool overcoat I was wearing that evening.”
Also restored was the sanitized language the Office of Chief Counsel wanted for the reimbursement form:
“The damage to the personal coat occurred while on official duty. Through no fault or negligence of my own, the coat was torn by a dog bite. I could not avoid this unusual circumstance due to the nature and requirements of my position.”
The appeal response also disclosed something not mentioned before:
“We have determined that there are two video files from February 9, 2023, totaling approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds, that are responsive to your request.”
These videos are being withheld in full under Exemptions (b)(6), (b)(7)(C), and (b)(7)(E).
Taken together, the three waves of records change the public understanding of Commander’s impact on the Secret Service:
The evolving releases of Secret Service records show that the dog incidents involving the Bidens’ German Shepherds were more serious, more numerous, and more disruptive than the public was originally told. Agents described “unprovoked” attacks, staff privately joked it was like “Cujo”, and management listed Commander as a “continued danger” in workforce discussions. Meanwhile, two responsive videos remain withheld in full.
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This post was published on September 26, 2025 1:15 pm
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