Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem are living in secure military housing, citing safety concerns.
Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, co-author of “How Democracies Die,” stated: “It is something you never see in a democracy. Government officials live on military bases or other sorts of fortified zones in authoritarian regimes.” Salon drew parallels to Putin's Russia, Stalin's dachas, Saddam Hussein's palaces, and Orban's Hungary.
Housing costs $4,500-$6,500 monthly, though Noem reportedly lived rent-free in a Coast Guard commandant's residence before disputing the characterization. The arrangement has “little precedent in U.S. history.”