The sight of Donald Trump suddenly being bundled away by a group of US Secret Service agents surrounding him has become all too familiar.
After the third apparent attempt to assassinate Trump in less than two years, one of his former protection officers warns the President is “facing a threat level I’ve never seen before”.
Jeffrey James, who helped to guard Trump during his first term in the White House, believes the security operation at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night worked well, preventing suspect Cole Allen from allegedly attempting to kill the President and top members of his team at the Hilton Hotel in Washington.
He emphasises that the security around the King’s state visit to the US this week will be as strong as possible and he sees no need for concern, with snipers and sniffer dogs protecting Charles.
But James, who served in the Secret Service from 1996 to 2018, fears more generally that routine operations risk being swamped by America’s growing menace of political violence.
“We were at the borderline of being overstretched before I retired,” he says. “When you add in this increased threat level – and every threat needs to be investigated – the Secret Service could easily get overwhelmed.”
Cole Allen being detained as the suspect following the alleged attempted assassination of Donald Trump (Photo: Truth Social/Reuters)How political violence is spreading in the US
He underlines that politicians on both the right and the left, as well as officials right down to local government, are all facing greater dangers than ever – meaning Secret Service agents, officers and detectives may be spread too thinly.
Last year saw the murders of Trump’s Republican activist ally Charlie Kirk and of Melissa Hortman, a Democrat who was the House speaker in Minnesota – plus an arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, who survived.
Two men plotted to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, the husband of former house speaker Nancy Pelosi was injured in a hammer attack in 2022, and a campaign office for 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris was the target of three shootings before the election.
With threats also being made against senators and Supreme Court judges, “it becomes a strain and a drain on law enforcement,” says James.
Besides guarding Trump on several occasions, he was a permanent member of George W Bush’s protection detail and also served Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at times.
James salutes the “incredible dedication” of agents but admits: “It does get tough. There’s a lot of travel, a lot of long days, and that fatigue certainly diminishes your performance ability.”
US Secret Service agents with sniper rifles and dogs will be protecting the King during his state visit (Photos: Getty)Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from California, was charged on Tuesday with attempting to assassinate Trump.
Referring to abuses of immigrants, the US war in Iran and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Allen allegedly wrote in a note before the attack that “what my representatives do reflects on me”.
The document added that “this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it”, saying administration officials “are targets, prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest”.
What may be causing a rise in attacks
There can be many factors behind why an individual may target a public figure, including undiagnosed or untreated mental illness. But James argues social media must also take some blame for heightening public anger.
“Everyone is emboldened and empowered to share their opinion,” he says. “They speak out, but maybe no one acknowledges it, or they get pushed back, and now all of a sudden they’re like: I have to do something. The next thing you know, there’s situations like this.”
Paul Eckloff, seen guarding Donald Trump in the background, is also alarmed at growing threats (Photos: Reuters/Joshua Roberts)Paul Eckloff, another former agent who protected Trump during a 23-year career, agrees the “volume, visibility, and nature” of threats have all become more “amplified” by the country’s highly polarised politics.
This increases the number of people who “fixate” on leaders, he explains, and they have become harder to spot at earlier stages of radicalisation.
“In the past, individuals who posed a risk were more likely to come to the attention of law enforcement through direct communication, prior behaviour or community reporting. Increasingly, individuals can radicalise in relative isolation, often through online ecosystems that reinforce grievance, validate extreme thinking and lower inhibitions toward violence.”
He adds: “The pathway from grievance to action can be much shorter, with fewer observable warning signs that meet a legal threshold for intervention… Many of these individuals do not appear on any radar until very late in the process.”
Forensic psychologist Dr Reid Meloy, who has worked for the FBI, says research confirms “a clear increase in frequency” of political attacks from the mid 90s to now, particularly in the last decade.
Secret Service agents draw their guns during the attempted attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (Photo: AP/Tom Brenner)More than 8,000 threats against members of Congress were investigated by police in 2023, 10 times more than in 2016, with both parties receiving similar numbers.
James, who is now a private security consultant, says entrenched political division cannot be ignored. He points out that since Ronald Reagan left office in 1993, no President has secured more than 53.4 per cent of the popular vote.
“We were very cognisant in the Secret Service that every time we took the president outside of the White House, half the people laying eyes on him did not want him.”
He is glad he was never called into action. “As crazy as it sounds, part of you hopes a little bit that something would happen so you could see how you would perform, but you’re always thankful when nothing does. In law enforcement, boring days are good days.”
@robhastings.bsky.social
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