WASHINGTON — 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.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.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.In April, a gunman stormed a security checkpoint, fired on an officer and was subdued before he reached the ballroom in Washington where Trump, the first lady, Cabinet officials and more than 2,600 journalists and other guests were in attendance.Friday’s event will be held at a different Washington hotel with a much smaller ballroom and fewer guests.
Trump is expected to attend and speak.Curran said law enforcement is prepared.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran at a news conference after a gunman stormed a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April.Luke Johnson / Getty Images“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 said the security p...