US Secret Service Director Sean Curran testifies during a House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing at the Rayburn Building in Washington on April 16, 2026.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | getty images
a senior US Secret Service The official said Wednesday that the “threat environment” for people protected by the agency, including President Donald Trump, “is the highest we have ever seen.”
“What we are seeing now is something I have never seen before,” said the senior official, who spoke to reporters at a background briefing on condition that he not be identified by name ahead of the public briefing.
According to a pool report from MS Now’s briefing, around 10,000 cases related to threats against government officials, including Supreme Court judges, have been reported so far in 2026, the official said. This represents a 40% increase in such cases compared to the same period last year.
“Their volume and complexity is increasing,” the official said, noting that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett told a House subcommittee a week ago that the threat level for her and other federal judges “is really very high.”
According to the official, the Secret Service has seen a 10-fold increase in the number of mental health commitments to people suspected of threatening protected individuals.
The briefing came ahead of Friday’s rescheduled annual dinner for the White House Correspondents’ Association at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington. Trump is ready to attend this program.
The WHCA’s originally scheduled dinner was abruptly suspended in April when a man armed with multiple weapons tried to break through a security checkpoint inside the Washington Hilton hotel as Trump was attending the dinner.
The man, Cole Thomas Allen of California, was surrounded by Secret Service officers before he could enter the ballroom, where Trump and other top administration officials were meeting. Allen has been accused of trying to assassinate Trump.
When Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn was asked by a reporter during the public portion of the briefing how concerned the agency was about the threat of using drones to attack protected populations, he said, “Very.”
“Look, the threat is real,” Quinn said. “Look at Ukraine…it’s just a matter of time before it comes to the United States.”
But Quinn also said the White House is “very secure from attack.”
“The technology that we’re deploying, not just at the White House, but at all protected sites, is cutting edge right now,” he said.
“You know, the threat is getting more and more severe,” Quinn said. “Now you’re talking about fiber-optic controlled drones, dark drones. So there’s a continued effort to combat that. But we’re doing a tremendous job of staying ahead of the threat, especially at the White House.”
On Tuesday, a reporter at the White House asked Trump if he felt safe, noting that there have been several attempts on his life.
The President replied, “I feel safe.” “Why wouldn’t I feel safe?”
Trump narrowly escaped being killed at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, when gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire on Trump. An audience member, Corey Compretor, was killed and two other people were seriously injured in the attack.
Two months later, a Secret Service officer opened fire on another gunman hiding in bushes on the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
That gunman, Ryan Routh, was convicted in Florida federal court last September of attempting to assassinate Trump and other charges.
Roth is serving a life sentence in prison.