Secret Service leaders tell 60 Minutes threats are up over 40% and drones are an unsolved risk

Mixed · 2Secret Service Director Sean Curran described the current threat environment as "like we've never seen before" in a 60 Minutes interview with Norah O'Donnell, broadcast on Sunday 11 October 2026. 1 2 Mixed · 2Curran said threats against full-time protectees are up just over 40% on last year, which he called "a massive increase", and that there have been 10,000 threat cases so far this year. 1 2 Left · 1It was the first joint interview for Curran and Deputy Director Matthew Quinn. 1

Left · 1Curran put part of the rise down to the internet and social media, which make people and information more accessible. Asked whether President Trump's polarizing profile contributed, Curran said the Secret Service is "an apolitical organization". Quinn said people on both sides of the aisle love or hate any president and that mental health issues are the biggest factor. 1 3 Left · 1Asked whether more threats come from the left or the right, Curran said the agency does not "weigh it that way" and investigates every threat. CBS added research from the Center for Strategic and International Studies: left-wing attacks outnumbered right-wing ones in 2025 for the first time in 30 years, and this year more have come from the right. 1 3 Left · 1Threats from abroad are also growing. CBS said they come eight months into a war with Iran. Quinn cited banners reading "Kill President Trump" at a funeral for Iran's supreme leader and said the agency recognises the threat has increased, but prefers to "stay in the background" about its response. 1 3

Left · 1The agency is building a multimillion-dollar program, led by Quinn, to develop offensive and defensive drone capabilities. These include an AI- and radar-guided "drone hunter" that disables drones and captures them with a net. Quinn said "Swarms are a huge problem and a big threat" and that the swarm problem is not solved, though the White House is "the safest place on Earth". CBS also reported that the agency used electronic jamming to take down a drone at the December Army-Navy game. 3 Left · 1Curran said the agency must assume drone attacks are possible in the US: "The second we're not, we're gonna get caught flat-footed." Quinn said teams recently returned from Ukraine, and the agency is using lessons from the war there. 1 3 Left · 1Curran, who led Trump's protective detail at the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania rally, said he had requested additional resources for that event but would "rather not get into the past". He said he is convinced nothing like it will happen again. A June Homeland Security inspector general report found the Secret Service "missed multiple opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt the assassination attempt". 1 3

Left · 1On staffing, Quinn said 942 people are in training, compared with "maybe 200" last year. CBS cited an inspector general finding that the counter-sniper team is staffed 73% below the level needed. The leaders also described new equipment: a medical response truck with a trauma unit and field surgeon, and an armored personnel carrier in the motorcade. Quinn said the carrier gives the agency a way to move people in civil disturbances such as January 6th. 3 Mixed · 2Both outlets report Curran's comments on the decoy Air Force One. Curran said the plane switch "wasn't the first time" the agency had done something like that, and wished it had not been reported, because it gives away tactics. Curran would not say whether Trump had used a decoy plane on other occasions. Quinn said the president is the priority and everyone else, including agents, is not. CBS dates the switch to July, on a flight home from Turkey after intelligence of an Iranian missile plot. Fox refers to a plane switch in August. 3 2 Right · 1Fox News also noted that the interview came as the agency faces scrutiny after three officials were placed on leave in August, and as the FBI is slow to release Butler documents. Judicial Watch's Thomas Fitton said processing at current rates would take 12 years. 2