Secret Service Reports Surge in Threats
The Secret Service has looked into roughly 10,000 threats against individuals under protection, including President Trump, during the first half of this year, as noted by the agency’s director on Wednesday.
“These figures are unprecedented in my 24 years at the agency,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran shared with reporters at a briefing prior to the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner happening Friday night.
Curran added, “The environment has become quite unstable, and this is a widespread issue. The threat landscape is unlike anything I’ve encountered before.”
In contrast, around 7,000 investigations were opened by the Secret Service during the same timeframe in 2025.
The agency is tasked with protecting about 30 individuals, which includes the president and vice president, their immediate families, and the president’s successor.
Most threats that the Secret Service looks into primarily stem from online sources, officials indicated, emphasizing that every report is deemed potentially credible until agents assess the subject’s actual intent, capability, and means to execute an attack.
The annual correspondents’ dinner was postponed from April 25 after Cole Allen allegedly attempted to breach a Secret Service checkpoint armed with two guns and four knives, aiming to harm President Trump and other Cabinet members.
Allen was apprehended following a shootout with law enforcement, during which he struck an officer in a bulletproof vest.
Mr. Curran defended the security measures at the Washington Hilton, stating that Allen was arrested approximately 120 meters from where Trump was due to speak that night. “We need a starting and ending point for security,” he mentioned, adding that while he would prefer the endpoint to be near the bridge, that would complicate things for many.
“Unfortunately, we anticipated issues with the magnetometer, which is why it’s there. And that’s precisely where it happened, so the system worked,” Curran stated.
In a manifesto sent shortly before his attack, Allen criticized what he perceived as an “insane” security gap. He expressed concern over the lack of attention given to hotel guests checking in before the event, referring to the oversight as “outrageous.”
The dinner is now set to take place at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, close to the White House. This venue can accommodate around 1,300 seated guests, which is a bit less than half of the 2,500 attendees at the Hilton in April.
President Trump is expected to attend and speak at the event, which will implement “significantly increased security measures and new access procedures,” according to Jiang Weijia, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.
In an update from last week, the organization revealed that digital tickets would replace the usual paper passes and will be verified before attendees reach the magnetometer.
The news agency will also forgo the typical pre-dinner cocktail party that usually allows entry to anyone with an invitation, regardless of whether they hold a dinner ticket or not.
