Secret Service leaders say threats against President Trump and other protectees have surged, with more than 10,000 investigations opened this year and a 40% increase in reported threats compared with last year.
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is set for July 24 after being postponed following the April attack at the Washington Hilton, when Cole Allen tried to kill President Trump. That disruption tightened security planning and left officials publicly acknowledging the unusual intensity of threats around high-profile political figures. The event at the Waldorf Astoria will test those plans under a spotlight few previous presidential sites have faced.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters his agency has opened more than 10,000 investigations this year into threats against people it protects, marking a 40 percent increase over the same period last year. He described the current political climate as volatile in a way he has not seen in his 24-year career, and he said the threat numbers are “off the charts.” Those figures are a blunt metric for an agency that has always worked quietly to keep leaders safe.
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The Secret Service has opened more than 10,000 investigations this year into threats against people it protects, a 40% rise over the same period last year, officials said Wednesday.
Director Sean Curran told reporters at a briefing that the volatile political climate has reached a new level that he has not seen in his 24-year career.
He said the threat numbers are “off the charts.”
Despite the heightened environment — President Donald Trump has been the target of at least three assassination attempts — Curran and other senior leaders at the agency tasked with protecting Trump and other high-profile politicians are confident in security plans ahead of the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this week.
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Curran said law enforcement is prepared.
“We will always evaluate every site. And right now, we have an advance team there, and they will take back and they will set up a plan to set that site up for success,” he said.
Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said the agency does not see a shadow cast by the April incident.
“We’re not looking at this as a redo of a dinner,” he said. “We’re looking at this as a presidential site with Cabinet members and other protectees there, just like every site we do everywhere we go.”
Curran emphasized that the agency will evaluate every site and deploy advance teams to build secure plans tailored to each location. Deputy Director Matthew Quinn made clear the agency is treating the dinner like any other presidential site, not a rerun of the chaos of April. That public confidence matters, but officials also admitted the backdrop for their work has worsened dramatically in a short time.
The April attack nearly reached the main dining hall, where Trump and many civilians sat along with people in the presidential line of succession, and it only failed because Allen tripped over his own feet. That near miss is more than a scary detail; it is proof that vulnerabilities can be razor-thin and that luck, not system strength, sometimes decides whether a plan holds. Any agency that relies on luck is not doing all it can to defend the presidency and other protectees.
We are seeing a clear pattern: more threats, more open investigations, and a political culture where violent rhetoric translates into dangerous action more often than it did a few years ago. From a Republican perspective, this trend underscores a failure of political discourse and the cost of a media environment that all too often normalizes extreme language. Labeling and mocking won’t stop violence; competent, visible protection backed by clear consequences will.
The Secret Service has said it is prepared, and those words ought to mean strict, transparent execution of security plans at every site where protectees appear. Agencies must use the resources and authority they have to stay ahead of threats while the public and leaders push to restore common-sense norms that reduce the appetite for political violence. The coming days will show whether this heightened posture is enough to keep protectees safe without surrendering public access or normal civic rituals.
