Kamala Harris is ‘Pioneer’ for Secret Service

Code is a nod to her historic choice as first Black Indian American woman VP nominee.

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In a nod to her historic choice as the first Black and Indian American woman as Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris has chosen “Pioneer” as her Secret Service code name, CNN reported.

Harris was put under Secret Service protection last week, shortly after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced the senator from California as his running mate.

Biden himself is called “Celtic.” His rival Republican rival President Donald Trump is ‘Mogul’ while first lady Melania Trump, is “Muse.”

The secret service code for Vice President Mike Pence is “Hoosier” while that for second lady Karen Pence is “Hummingbird.”

Those under Secret Service protection choose their code names from a list that has been approved by the White House Communications Agency.

READ MORE: Road to the White House

Candidates are often known to choose code names, or call signs, that resonate with them personally.

If elected in November, she would become the first female vice president, the first Indian American vice president, the first Black vice president and the first Jamaican American vice president.

“Over time, the (Secret Service) protectees have almost taken on the persona of the call sign that they had selected,” Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service special agent told CNN.

“With (former President Barack) Obama, ‘Renegade’ is a great example: how he went against the establishment in some of the things that he had done, and like Barbara Bush, whose call sign was ‘Tranquility,’ embodied the tranquility and peacefulness in a time of war,” Wackrow said.

Former first lady Michelle Obama’s code name is “Renaissance.”

According to established protocol, good codewords are unambiguous words that can be easily pronounced and readily understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language.

The codenames change over time for security purposes, but are often publicly known. For security, codenames are generally picked from a list of such ‘good’ words, but avoiding the use of common words which could likely be intended to mean their normal definitions.