Secret Service Deputy Director Says Drone Swarms Remain An Unsolved Threat
The Secret Service is developing new tools to counter drones, but Deputy Director Matthew Quinn says the agency has not yet solved the more difficult problem of stopping multiple drones operating together.
“Swarms are a huge problem and a big threat,” Quinn told 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast Sunday.
“I’d love to tell you the swarm problem is solved,” he added, before making clear that it is not.
Quinn is overseeing a multimillion-dollar effort to build offensive and defensive drone capabilities. CBS described one system that uses radar and artificial intelligence to guide an interceptor drone toward another aircraft. The interceptor can disable the target and capture it in a net.
But countering one drone is different from defending against several arriving at once. At rallies and sporting events, agents must identify aerial threats while protecting large crowds below. A small drone carrying explosives could cause serious harm, according to the report.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran said the agency must prepare for that possibility in advance. Officials are studying the role drones have played in Ukraine’s war, and Quinn said he expects such technology eventually to reach the United States. He described a potential threat; he did not say a swarm had attacked a presidential event.
The agency has dealt with unauthorized drone activity near a major gathering. CBS reported that agents used electronic jamming to bring down a drone at December’s Army-Navy game, which Trump and members of Congress attended. The report did not say the drone was armed or part of a coordinated group.
Drone defense is one part of a broader security burden. Curran said the Secret Service has recorded 10,000 threats against protected people so far this year. He also said cases involving full-time protectees have risen 40 percent from the same period last year. Those figures refer to the agency’s overall workload, not to drone threats alone.
Officials must assess warnings while accounting for the ease with which the internet can expose public figures and information about them, Curran said.
The agency’s preparations are under particular scrutiny two years after the assassination attempt against Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A Homeland Security inspector general’s report found that the Secret Service missed multiple opportunities to disrupt that attack.
As Trump resumes campaign travel ahead of the midterm elections, Curran said the agency has expanded training. Quinn said 942 people are now in Secret Service training, compared with roughly 200 last year.
The agency must also contend with foreign threats, including Iranian threats against Trump. Officials have not linked Iran to a drone swarm targeting him. Quinn said the White House remains exceptionally secure despite the unresolved swarm challenge, The New York Post reported.