Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has moved out of his Georgetown home and onto a military base after U.S. officials picked up Iranian threats against his life. The Scott Bessent military base move was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times, which cited three people familiar with the situation. The base has not been disclosed.
A senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital that the threats had reached “more than an advanced stage.” According to the Times, U.S. officials concluded in recent weeks that Iran’s plotting against current and former American officials had moved further along than before, and intelligence about threats against Bessent helped lead to that conclusion. Bessent’s family reportedly moved with him.
A Treasury Department spokesperson said Bessent “will not be deterred by the Iranian regime’s threats” and remains committed to the administration’s pressure campaign against Iran.
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That campaign is the reason Bessent is a target. As Treasury Secretary, he runs the country’s money side of foreign policy, and since August he has led the Trump administration’s push to choke off Iran’s economy. That includes tougher sanctions, which are penalties that block a country, company or person from doing business with the U.S. financial system, and restrictions on the trade routes Iran uses to move goods. A major goal is cutting off money to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful branch of Iran’s military that also runs much of the country’s intelligence and overseas operations. The administration says the measures are weakening Iran’s currency and putting pressure on its leadership.
How serious the threat against Bessent is remains unclear. U.S. officials have said Iran’s ability to carry out large attacks inside the United States is limited, but they treat specific threats against individuals seriously. A source told ABC News that security concerns around Bessent grew after The Wall Street Journal published an aerial photo of his Georgetown home, which made the house possible to locate.
The move comes during a wider security alert tied to Iran. Last month, the administration placed some American personnel in the Middle East on heightened alert and cut staffing at certain embassies and consulates after intelligence suggested Iran was further along in planning attacks against Americans.
Iran has been accused of targeting American officials before. In 2024, federal prosecutors charged Farhad Shakeri, whom they described as an operative of the Revolutionary Guard, in an alleged plot to kill Trump. Prosecutors said that plot was revenge for the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, and people connected to that strike have faced Iranian threats ever since.
Bessent is now the third sitting Trump Cabinet member living in military housing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live on Generals’ Row at Fort McNair in Washington, a strip of homes traditionally reserved for senior military officers. Kristi Noem moved into a home on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling meant for the Coast Guard commandant while she was Homeland Security Secretary, after the location of her Washington apartment building was published.
White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and his family also live on a base, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, after protesters targeted their former home in Arlington, Virginia. Miller’s move was about protests at his house, not Iran. It is not known whether Bessent landed on the same base.
The Atlantic reported last year that at least six senior political appointees were living in Washington-area military housing, and that the influx of civilian officials was squeezing housing normally set aside for high-ranking military personnel.
There is no word on how long Bessent will stay on the base or whether his security arrangements will change again.
