October eleven twenty twenty-six. Ten thousand threat cases since January. The year is not over. Sean Curran, the twenty-eighth director of the United States Secret Service, gave the number to 60 Minutes in his first joint interview with Deputy Director Matthew Quinn. Threats on full-time protectees are up just over forty percent from last year. That is a massive increase, Curran said. It is like nothing we have seen before.
The mechanics here are straightforward. The internet made people more accessible. Information more accessible. Social media changes people. Mental health issues push more people over the edge in either direction. Research from the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed a spike in left-wing incidents in twenty twenty-five – the first time in thirty years left-wing attacks exceeded right-wing. This year the trend reversed. More attacks now come from the right. Eight months into the Iran war, foreign threats are also growing.
Three known attempts on President Trump’s life in the last two and a half years. Butler, Pennsylvania. His Florida golf course. The White House Correspondents’ Dinner where a shooter breached the perimeter. Curran was lead agent at Butler. He shielded Trump when Thomas Crooks fired eight rounds from a rooftop one hundred fifty-five yards away. I am his vest, Curran said. You wear your vest for him. Not for you. He requested additional resources. He would rather not get into the past. The Inspector General report found the Secret Service missed multiple opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt the assassination attempt. Curran says he is convinced it will not happen again. Nine hundred forty-two people are in training today. Last year there were maybe two hundred.
The catch is the new threat. Drones. Autonomous attack drones. Last week Curran personally tested counter-drone ammunition. Quinn leads a multimillion-dollar program to develop offensive and defensive drone capabilities. Teams went to Ukraine two weeks ago. They were on the front lines. That technology will hit the homeland. The drone hunter uses AI and radar to disable enemy drones and capture them with a net. Just this much C4, Quinn said, holding up a small amount, is plenty enough to do a lot of damage. The Secret Service took down a drone with electronic jamming at the Army-Navy game in Baltimore last December. The president and members of Congress were there. Swarms remain a huge problem. The swarm problem is not solved.
Follow the money. A new Air Force One, a 747 donated by Qatar. Security enhancements cost nearly four hundred million dollars, according to the U.S. Air Force. Does the Secret Service fully trust a plane given by a foreign government? We trust that plane, Curran said. Because you checked it all out? I will not get into that. You can make your assumptions.
The goal: maximum resources without the appearance of overt militarization. Let Americans maintain their freedoms. Still provide protection at the highest level. The White House remains the safest place on Earth. But the threats keep coming.
Sources
- 60 Minutes Transcript: Secret Service confronts rise in threats to protectees – CBS News
- Secret Service director reports 40% surge in threats to presidency | Fox News
