Secret Service warns of record threat level ahead of White House Correspondents’ Association dinner redo
The Secret Service on Wednesday warned that threat levels to protectees are at the highest recorded levels and raised concerns about the increasing security concerns posed by drones.
During a media briefing, officials said that nationwide threat levels against protectees, ranging from President Donald Trump to Supreme Court justices, have skyrocketed by roughly 40% over the same time period last year. The threats are “increasing in volume and complexity,” officials told reporters, adding that they have handled a record 10,000 threat-related cases this year.
“The environment has become very volatile, and that’s just across the board,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said. “The threat picture and environment is as large as I’ve ever seen it.”
“The numbers at this agency … I’ve never seen in my 24-year career; they’re off the charts,” he added.
The warning comes after several shootings have taken place in Washington, D.C., this year, sparking concerns about Trump’s safety, particularly after a shooter was charged with attempting to assassinate the president at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 25. The dinner was cut short by the debacle, but was rescheduled for July 24.
On Wednesday, Curran defended the security apparatus used at the dinner shooting, saying it worked as intended to prevent the suspect from making his way to the ballroom where Trump was gathered with other high-profile attendees. Ahead of Friday’s rescheduled dinner, Curran said agents are taking everything into account, including an analysis of how buildings might survive explosions at the site.
“We do expect things to happen at the magnetometers, unfortunately, but that’s why they are there. And that’s where it happened, and that’s where it ended,” he said. “So it did work. The system worked. We can’t shut down an entire community when we have an event.”
Officials said they are “very” concerned about drones being used to target protectees, raising concerns about Iranian threats to assassinate Trump. The FBI recently announced that it thwarted a terrorist attack at the White House UFC fight that Trump hosted, where suspects were accused of planning to use explosive-laden drones to attack attendees.
“We look at Ukraine, we look at just at basic intelligence. It’s a matter of time before it comes to the United States,” Deputy Secret Service Director Matthew Quinn said. “It’s happening on the border. We know that, so it’s absolutely top priority, top of mind, and it comes down to what we’re doing to detect and mitigate.”
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A Secret Service official added that the “threat environment” for the agency’s protectees “is the highest we’ve ever seen.”
“What we’re seeing now is something I’ve never seen before,” the official said.
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