Secret Service Deputy Director Stepping Down Amid Questions About Drone Defenses

A leadership change at the Secret Service is drawing renewed attention to the agency’s counter-drone systems, procurement decisions and coordination practices as it confronts what officials describe as an unprecedented threat environment.

Deputy Director Matthew Quinn announced Friday that he will leave his position effective November 7. He said he and Secret Service Director Sean Curran had been planning the transition for months.

The announcement came amid questions about Quinn’s past work for a company that sells counter-drone equipment to the agency. No public finding has established that Quinn violated procurement rules or improperly directed a contract.

RealClearPolitics reported that Quinn told agency employees about his departure in an internal email Friday. His exit has brought fresh focus to how the Secret Service selects and evaluates technology intended to counter aerial threats.

Quinn served with the agency for 23 years before retiring in 2021, according to RealClearPolitics. He later became a senior vice president at Fortem Technologies, maker of the DroneHunter counter-drone system, before returning to government service last year as the Secret Service’s second-ranking official.

RealClearPolitics said current and former agents questioned whether Quinn should have recused himself from decisions involving Fortem products. The outlet asked the agency whether purchases of DroneHunter equipment were competitively bid and how well the system had performed. The Secret Service did not respond to those questions, the report said.

The unanswered questions have fueled calls for greater transparency around taxpayer-funded security systems, particularly when their performance could affect the safety of the president and the public.

The scrutiny grew after Quinn and Curran appeared in a Sunday “60 Minutes” segment filmed at a Secret Service training center. The broadcast showed a DroneHunter system capturing a target drone with a net. RealClearPolitics reported that the segment did not mention Quinn’s former employment with Fortem.

During the interview, Quinn acknowledged that defending against coordinated attacks involving multiple drones remained a serious challenge for the agency. A controlled demonstration involving one drone, on its own, does not show how a system would perform against a coordinated attack.

The Secret Service must protect the president at the White House and secure rallies, travel routes, public events and other locations where threats can emerge quickly. Curran told CBS that threats against the agency’s full-time protectees had risen more than 40 percent from the previous year.

RealClearPolitics also reported questions about a drone disabled during last December’s Army-Navy football game in Baltimore, where President Donald Trump was in attendance. CBS reported that the Secret Service used electronic jamming equipment to bring down a drone. RealClearPolitics cited agency sources who alleged that the drone may have belonged to the Secret Service. The agency has not publicly confirmed those accounts.

If that allegation is accurate, the incident could point to a coordination breakdown between teams monitoring drones and those tasked with neutralizing them. RealClearPolitics also said several sources questioned whether DroneHunter worked as intended during preparations for the television demonstration. The agency did not respond to the outlet’s questions about either allegation, according to the report.

Those claims remain unconfirmed. Still, clear answers would help the public assess how the agency is testing its equipment and coordinating its response to aerial threats.

The questions carry added weight following the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman wounded Trump, killed firefighter Corey Comperatore and seriously injured James Copenhaver and David Dutch.

Congressional investigators identified communication failures between local police and Secret Service personnel during the attack. A separate government review found delays and gaps in updating protective policies after security incidents, and raised concerns about how the agency handled lessons from drone-related incidents.