Increase in Threats Against U.S. Secret Service and President Trump Discussed
In a recent interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” leadership from the U.S. Secret Service highlighted a significant rise in threats against both agents and President Donald Trump over the past year.
During the Sunday broadcast, Secret Service Director Sean Curran, alongside Deputy Director Matt Quinn, shared their observations with host Norah O’Donnell. Curran noted that the surge in threats seems to correlate with social media use and mental health issues.
Curran described the current threat landscape, revealing that there have been about 10,000 threat cases against those protected by the Secret Service since January. He remarked on the unprecedented nature of this increase, stating that threats against their full-time protectees have risen over 40% compared to last year.
“It’s like we’ve never seen before. The threats on our full-time protectees are up just over 40% than they were last year. That’s a massive increase,” Curran remarked.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the internet. People are more accessible, information is more accessible, it’s definitely new to us. The world is different than what it was 20 years ago. You know, social media changes people.”
When the hosts inquired whether Trump’s contentious reputation was a factor in the uptick in threats, the officials maintained that the Secret Service operates without a political bias. However, they did link the concerns to the January 6, 2021, Capitol protests and several assassination attempts directed at Trump.
“We are an apolitical organization. We’re here to protect who we’re sworn to protect,” Curran emphasized. “Look, I would say there’s people on both sides of the aisle that either love or hate any president. I think the biggest factor we’re dealing with today is mental health issues for sure. And more people are being pushed over the edge in either direction.”
Curran, who played a key role in protecting Trump during an assassination attempt at a 2024 rally, underlined the vital importance of preparation. He then addressed earlier reports from August, indicating that Trump was advised to switch from a new Qatari Air Force One aircraft to an older U.S. model for security reasons while departing from a NATO summit in Turkey. Curran explained that both the Secret Service and the White House preferred this “decoy” strategy not to be disclosed publicly, as revealing it could hinder the effectiveness of similar tactics in the future. He did not clarify whether this kind of aircraft switch had occurred before.
“When you’re operating in any protective detail with the president of the United States, for any president, the priority is the president. Everyone else, staff, agents, media, personnel involved are not the priority, including our own personnel. As hard as that may be for some to understand, the mission is to protect the president of the United States,” Quinn stated.
