Ex Secret Service Agent Explains Trump Assassination Attempt

On the afternoon of Saturday, July 13, 2024, former President Donald Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump, only days away from becoming the official Republican nominee for President in the November 2024 election, was rushed to a nearby medical center for evaluation and later released with only minor injuries.

Now the focus turns toward the planning of the event, the law enforcement response, and the investigation into how the attack happened. As a former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, I will attempt to bring you a high-level view of dignitary protection and the massive planning that goes into securing events during a campaign year.

Before we begin, I need to make a few things clear. First, I am not an expert. Second, I will not discuss information that could reveal tactics and techniques used by law enforcement to protect dignitaries. Third, I will not discuss the attacker, potential motives, or any related details.

I left the Secret Service years ago after nearly eight years of service as a Special Agent. During my time with the agency, I traveled the country and the world extensively on protective assignments for presidents, vice presidents, and their families, as well as foreign dignitaries. I participated in the planning and implementation of security for major events such as national conventions, inaugurations, and campaigns.

History of The United States Secret Service

The Secret Service was created in 1865 as a response to threats against the U.S. financial system. At the time, counterfeit money was a major problem, and the new agency’s mission was to identify and remove printing press operations and the dissemination of fake currency.

It wasn’t until 1901 after the assassination of President McKinley that the Secret Service was tasked with the protection of the president. Over the course of the following century, the agency’s protective role has expanded to include the vice president and other dignitaries as well as major events classified as National Special Security Events.

Organization

In general, the Secret Service is organized into several different departments and assignments:

Special Agents are assigned to field offices around the country and the world. These roles include both investigative and protective missions as the need arises.Special Agents can also be assigned to headquarters units to provide planning and mission support for ongoing operations.There are also permanent protective details that provide full-time security for the president and vice president.Agents can also be assigned to more specialized units such as protective intelligence, technical operations, counter-assault teams, and other specialties.

The Secret Service is also comprised of a Uniformed Division which is responsible for the physical security of the White House, Embassies, and other locations as assigned. These officers and command staff will also travel in support of protective details, major events, and other assignments. The Uniformed Division also has specialized units including tactical teams at the White House and counter-sniper teams that travel to locations in support of protective operations.

Protectees

The president receives full-time Secret Service protection which begins almost immediately after a presumptive winner is announced. The president cannot refuse protection and cannot overrule security decisions made by Secret Service leadership when a significant threat exists. The vice-president also receives full-time Secret Service protection. The president can designate other individuals who receive Secret Service protection, including family members, cabinet members such as the Secretary of the Treasury, and sometimes staff members. Most of these individuals can choose to refuse Secret Service protection.

Foreign Dignitaries who are Heads of State can also receive Secret Service protection when they visit the United States. For example, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, would receive Secret Service protection when he visits the U.S., whereas King Charles III would receive protection from the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

Candidates running for President can receive USSS protection after a review of several different factors, including:

Campaign financesThreat levelsTiming of the campaign cycle

The decision matrix is somewhat complex and has always been subject to scrutiny during campaign years when some candidates receive protection earlier than others.

Mission Planning

True dignitary protection requires the meticulous planning of every aspect of a protectee’s movements on a minute-by-minute basis at every location. It also requires intense advance work that occurs days, weeks, months, or even years before an event occurs. For example, during a campaign year, some events require an advanced team to be on location days or weeks before the candidate lands at the airport. Alternatively, planning for National Conventions starts years before the event takes place.

It’s the planning and advance work that separates dignitary protection from typical bodyguard or executive protection type of roles. A USSS advance team is comprised of several different assignments and includes:

A lead agent for every location planned for the tripThe motorcade that includes vehicles and routesIntelligence teamsCounter assault team (CAT) planningCounter-sniper assessments

Without getting into actual numbers, a dignitary trip that includes five locations, a hotel stay, an airport, a helicopter landing zone, and motorcade routes quickly becomes a major undertaking.

Keep in mind that a candidate may have multiple locations, spread out over multiple cities, on a single day. Each of these locations needs an advance team to be in place days before the event and every movement needs to be planned down to the minute.

Campaign years are challenging on many levels; security coordination for every trip becomes a monumental task, putting strain not only on a relatively small agency but all of the supporting law enforcement agencies as well. Again, without discussing actual numbers, the USSS has far fewer people than larger agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). One of the many things that the USSS does exceedingly well is coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies who supplement security at every location which helps to augment the overall number of security personnel.

The Day Of The Event

Security for events centers on planning and protective zones. Logically, access to areas that will be just yards away from a candidate will be more strict than a parking lot blocks away. The advance team will coordinate resources for different areas based on any potential threats while the detail—the agents that travel with the protectee—will handle the direct physical security and safety of the candidate. Besides prior planning of every movement, the security of the candidate is focused on critical decision-making skills and acting quickly and deliberately in a threat situation.

The assassination attempt on President Reagan on March 30, 1981 by John Hinckley, Jr., was an attack by a lone gunman wielding a .22LR pistol. Yet it was very nearly fatal for President Reagan. It was only due to prior planning and quick decision making that the USSS was able to get Reagan to the hospital in time to save his life.

Outdoor events are especially challenging, requiring the control of:

More areaDifferent terrainsPossibly thousands of attendeesThreat possibilities from almost every angle

Besides prior screening of attendees, line of sight concerns are taken into consideration, with counter-sniper teams working in conjunction with teams on the ground to respond to threats on the ground as well as elevated positions. Again, I won’t discuss distances or areas of responsibility, but calculations are made by the advance team on threat levels for different areas.

The Uniform Division has historically been under-appreciated in their roles as overt USSS assets in protective operations. In reality, the special agent positions and the officer positions work to compliment each other in the overall security matrix.

As I noted above, the counter sniper teams are staffed by Uniform Division officers and are some of the best precision rifle teams in U.S. law enforcement, if not the world. They work in pairs and typically position themselves in elevated positions.

The training to become a USSS counter sniper is rigorous and relies heavily on recurring training and evaluation. Prior to an event, the counter sniper (CS) teams:

Coordinate with other advance team membersConfirm zero on their riflesCheck other equipment

When I was with the USSS, CS teams were using JARs (Just Another Rifle) which were customized Remington 700 actions and Knight’s Armament SR-10s. Today, we can only speculate on their rifles and equipment by analyzing photographs taken of the teams at events.

The Attack

An attack on a protectee is obviously a worse-case scenario for any protective detail and can be complicated by the chaos of the ongoing event. Identifying gunshots at a crowded rally or spotting a gun in one hand out of thousands takes intense focus and concentration, while still following the movements and actions of the protectee.

Responses to an attack will vary between team members, with the detail’s primary focus being to shield the protectee and evacuate to safety. First and foremost, the goal is to get the protectee to safety, and then to a Level I trauma facility as quickly as possible while providing life-saving care on the way. As we all have probably learned in CPR class, the faster an injured patient receives advanced care, the greater the likelihood of survival.

The Aftermath

The attack on President Trump is an historic event and the investigation into the planning, implementation, and response will be ongoing for months. Undoubtedly there will be criticism over the ability of the attacker to be able to use an elevated position for a shot that grazed the former president’s ear.

It’s impossible to describe all of the work that goes into planning a single event and the attempt to control 360 degrees of safety and then repeating the process multiple times a day. Agents and officers are asked to do difficult tasks, often on little sleep, after traveling for weeks on end. My only hope is that the resulting analysis is fair and balanced and results in constructive responses that allows the USSS to continue to provide comprehensive security planning for protectees.