Source: Politics<\/p>\n
The toxic political climate and a complex web of threats \u2014 punctuated by Sunday\u2019s apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump<\/a> \u2014 is putting an extraordinary strain on the national security officials tasked with safeguarding American democracy.<\/p>\n Security experts say sharp polarization and increasingly hateful political rhetoric \u2014 fanned by foreign adversaries<\/a> and supercharged by social media \u2014 have combined to test the nation\u2019s ability to protect its candidates and institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 2024 presidential election is taking place at a time when the U.S. is facing the most complex, dynamic, and dangerous threat environment I\u2019ve experienced in the 40-plus years that I\u2019ve been working in law enforcement, homeland security, and national security,\u201d said John Cohen, a former senior Homeland Security intelligence and counterterrorism official.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re facing cyber, physical, and other threats by foreign and domestic threat actors, and what\u2019s different today is how they have fully embraced the power of the internet,\u201d Cohen added.<\/p>\n He said security and law enforcement professionals have been slow to adapt to these changes.<\/p>\n After Sunday\u2019s incident, Republicans were quick to call for increased security measures<\/a> for the former president.<\/p>\n Other factors have combined to drive up the intensity of the moment: the emergence and surprising political strength of Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to lead a national ticket, after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid; the compressed election calendar resulting from Harris\u2019 late entry into the race; the pileup of criminal charges that Trump has battled for a year; and election meddling by Iran (through hacking<\/a>) and Russia (through disinformation<\/a>).<\/p>\n Though every recent election cycle has featured some of these challenges, especially foreign interference, rarely has there been a moment when they\u2019ve all collided at once \u2014 requiring the Secret Service to weigh a daunting blend of foreign and domestic threats.<\/p>\n John Sandweg, a partner at Nixon Peabody and former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called the 2024 cycle \u201can unprecedented time, at least in modern history, in terms of the demands that are on their resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Election season is always challenging for the Secret Service because agents must protect people who are barnstorming the country \u2014 so while they guard Trump on his golf course, they must also plan ahead for rallies, campaign stops, and other appearances in unfamiliar venues that raise unique security concerns. The failures that allowed one would-be assassin\u2019s bullet to strike Trump\u2019s ear at a July rally in Butler, Pa., have been a constant reminder that the vaunted agency can still simply screw up.<\/p>\n Ryan Williams, a former aide to Mitt Romney who worked on his presidential bids, said in an interview that the violence directed toward Trump is like nothing he\u2019s seen in his lifetime and that he fears the attempts on the former president\u2019s life could inspire copycat shooters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could potentially see that now in politics,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s scary because you can\u2019t protect everybody in politics. There are hundreds of congressmen and senators and high-profile people \u2014 it\u2019s just not possible to secure them all if this is what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Law enforcement agencies are also operating in an environment of deep distrust, stoked by Trump\u2019s longtime attacks on the FBI and Justice Department amid the deluge of investigations and indictments he\u2019s faced in recent years.<\/p>\n Some Republicans, like Sen. Mike Lee<\/a> (R-Utah), called for the feds to stay out of the investigation into Sunday\u2019s incident, saying instead that Florida authorities \u2014 under the leadership of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis \u2014 should be the ones digging into the latest apparent attempt on Trump\u2019s life. DeSantis obliged, announcing that Florida would do its own probe. But the criminal case against the suspect, identified as Ryan Routh, is a federal case being handled by the Justice Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n Republicans have also renewed claims that Trump is receiving insufficient protection from the Secret Service, despite Trump\u2019s own praise of the agency for its handling of the latest incident. Biden, for his part, denounced the attack<\/a> and said he had directed that the Secret Service provide \u201cevery resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President\u2019s continued safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump is expected to move forward with all campaign events previously scheduled this week, including stops in Michigan, New York, Washington, D.C. and North Carolina between Tuesday and Saturday. He was scheduled to receive a briefing from the acting director of the Secret Service on Monday afternoon in Palm Beach.<\/p>\n While Trump has railed for years against the Justice Department and the FBI as an ominous \u201cdeep state,\u201d he has not criticized the Secret Service (which is a component of the Department of Homeland Security) or local law enforcement agencies. In public and private conversations after Sunday\u2019s incident, Trump reiterated his support for the Secret Service and local sheriff\u2019s office, while seeking to project an image of strength and resolve about continuing his campaign activities.<\/p>\n Questions remain about whether, if Trump were the sitting president, the roads surrounding the golf course would have been closed while he was playing on Sunday. But aides say that there had been a noticeable uptick in Secret Service security measures since the Butler shooting: a larger motorcade, stricter protocols for those flying on Trump\u2019s plane and increased emergency medical staff traveling with him.<\/p>\n The Butler shooting is still the subject of intense scrutiny\u2014 both for how a lone shooter was able to position himself to get a clear shot at Trump despite obvious signs of danger minutes before the attack, and for the shooter\u2019s motive, which remains a mystery<\/a> two months later.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a hatred in our politics that wasn\u2019t there before. The political rhetoric is sharper and more hateful today,\u201d said Gordon Heddell, a retired assistant director at the Secret Service, who spent 28 years at the agency.<\/p>\n \u201cSocial media sites play a pivotal role in their capacity to initiate and further lies and conspiracy theories. Advanced technologies make it easier for an assassin to operate. The availability of high-powered military-style weapons and the ability to move about the country freely; and before you know it, the challenges facing the Secret Service have gone way up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The proliferation of social media, in particular, has exacerbated challenges. They\u2019ve allowed foreign adversaries to cloak subversive activity through anonymous accounts that amplify divisive messages and cultural conflicts; they allow disinformation to dilute reality and conspiracy theories to take root. And social media platforms have struggled to provide open forums for debate while combating violent rhetoric.<\/p>\n Already, Iran has been eyed as the culprit behind a hack-and-leak effort that penetrated the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n Cohen said the Secret Service is a leader in analyzing people\u2019s behavior to predict if they pose a threat to protectees. But, he added, federal law enforcement officials need to face fewer constraints in viewing and analyzing public social media posts. It\u2019s a complex policy issue, he said, given constitutional and legal protections that Americans enjoy. But intelligence and law enforcement personnel need to be able to do more.<\/p>\n \u201cSadly, what all too often is the case is that we fail to recognize the warning signs, we fail to respond rapidly to an emerging threat, and the outcome is very often much more tragic,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cLaw enforcement needs the technical capabilities and the authorities to review online content associated with threat actors more broadly than they are doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n Lisa Kashinsky contributed to this report.<\/p>\n