Secret Service warns of rising threats

Asheville’s G20 gathering and Linda McMahon’s Oct. 9 visit put national leaders and international officials on Western North Carolina’s doorstep.

The Secret Service reported more than 40% increase in threats against people under its full-time protection, as Western North Carolina continues to host international officials, Cabinet members and presidential visits.

Director Sean Curran and Deputy Director Matthew Quinn described the growing threat environment in a joint interview on Oct. 11.

The warning follows the G20 Finance Ministerial at Asheville’s Omni Grove Park Inn in late August and early September and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s Oct. 9 visit to the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring for the Rutherford County Republican Party’s Lincoln-Reagan dinner.

The G20 meeting brought Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, foreign finance ministers and central bank governors to Asheville. Asheville police spokesman Rick Rice described the department’s work alongside local law enforcement and emergency-management agencies to “support our Federal partners and ensure the safety and security of the summit.”

That coordination connects the region to one of the central findings of the federal investigation into the 2024 assassination attempt against Donald Trump: failures to share information and communicate with local police can undermine protection even when multiple agencies are present.

McMahon’s appearance brought a member of Trump’s Cabinet to an event organized by Rutherford County Republicans at a venue in neighboring Polk County. I attended, and security was minimal.

The region has also hosted Trump himself. He held a campaign event at Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium on Aug. 14, 2024, about a month after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Ahead of the Asheville event, police described coordinated security involving local, state, and federal agencies.

On Jan. 24, 2025, Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived at Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher for a Hurricane Helene briefing and met with storm survivors in Swannanoa. The first lady returned to the mountain region last month for a visit to Mountain View Elementary School in Ashe County.

Those events place the national security discussion in communities where residents encounter visiting officials at rallies, schools, recovery sites and local political gatherings.

Curran said the Secret Service had recorded 10,000 threat cases involving the people it protects since January. The figure covers protectees collectively, rather than threats against Trump alone.

“It’s like we’ve never seen before,” Curran said. “That’s a massive increase.”

The interview detailed expanded training, medical support and counter-drone technology following Butler. But agency leaders acknowledged that emerging aerial threats remain difficult to counter.

“Swarms are a huge problem and a big threat,” Quinn said. He said the agency has not solved the problem.

Quinn described a multimillion-dollar program to develop offensive and defensive drone capabilities. Secret Service teams recently returned from Ukraine, where they studied drones on the battlefield, he said.

The agency demonstrated a system that uses artificial intelligence and radar to track an unauthorized drone, capture it with a net and carry it to a designated safe area.

Officials said even small drones carrying explosives could threaten crowds at campaign rallies, concerts and sporting events. The Secret Service used electronic jamming equipment to bring down a drone at the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore last December, when Trump and members of Congress attended.

“We have to plan for it,” Curran said of potential drone attacks in the United States. “We have to assume that that’s possible.” The technology push follows documented failures at Butler.

A Department of Homeland Security inspector general review found that the agency failed to detect gunman Thomas Crooks’ reconnaissance drone because of equipment problems and an inadequately trained operator.

Investigators also found that the Secret Service did not establish a joint communications room with local law enforcement, leaving Trump’s protective detail without warnings that Crooks had a range finder, a firearm and access to a nearby rooftop. The report identified failures to share threat intelligence, secure areas outside the perimeter and block a known line of sight to Trump.

Curran, who led Trump’s protective detail at the time and helped shield him during the shooting, confirmed that he had sought additional resources. He declined to elaborate on whether those requests were denied.

“I will tell you that I did request additional resources, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said.

Asked whether he could assure Americans that a similar security failure would not happen again, Curran answered, “Yes.”

Quinn said 942 people were in training, compared with approximately 200 last year. The broadcast also showed a medical response vehicle with a trauma unit and field surgeon, along with an armored personnel carrier added to the presidential motorcade.

Curran attributed part of the increase in threats to the internet and the accessibility of information about protected officials. Asked whether Trump’s political divisiveness contributed to the increase, he emphasized the agency’s mission.

“We are an apolitical organization,” Curran said. “We’re here to protect who we’re sworn to protect.”