What Kamala Harris' Secret Service Code Name Really Means

Picking a Secret Service code name is a rite of passage for government leaders. As Joe Biden's running mate, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris is entitled to Secret Service protection and, as such, has picked out her very own code name: Pioneer.

Secret Service protectees pick their code names from a pre-selected list approved by the White House Communications Agency, and typically choose code names — also known as call signs — that have some sort of personal significance.

As former Secret Service special agent and CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow told CNN, "Over time, the protectees have almost taken on the persona of the call sign that they had selected." He noted that Barack Obama's code name, Renegade, signified "how he went against the establishment in some of the things that he had done," while Barabara Bush's code name, Tranquility, "embodied the tranquility and peacefulness in a time of war."

Harris' code name is fitting because of all the ways she has made history throughout her career. As noted by The Guardian, Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, is the first woman of color to ever be chosen as a running mate on a major ticket. If Biden wins the presidency, she will be the first female vice president in United States history — a true pioneer.

Harris is very conscious of the fact that she is smashing barriers but, like any pioneer, she doesn't want to just break new ground. She also wants to open the door for others to follow in her footsteps.

"You know my mother used to tell me, she would tell my sister, my mother would look at me and she'd say 'Kamala you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last,'" she said in a speech at Spelman College. "And that's part of what breaking those barriers, that's why breaking those barriers is worth it. As much as anything else, it is also to create that path for those who will come after us."