Secret Service deputy director suddenly quits after series of security blunders as Trump threats escalate

Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn announced his resignation from the agency Friday, an abrupt announcement that comes after a series of high-profile security blunders, as well as an increase in threats against the commander-in-chief.

The news comes some two years after the Butler Pennsylvania, assassination attempt against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, which then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said was the agency's 'most significant operational failure in decades,' as well as a shooting incident at White House Correspondents' Dinner earlier this year. 

'Today I informed the men and women of the Secret Service that I will be transitioning out of my role as Deputy Director,' Quinn said in a social media post Friday. 

'Director Curran and I have been working on a thoughtful transition plan for months now,' he added. 

'Proud of the men & women of the USSS and all your accomplishments!'

Quinn, a longtime Secret Service agent, had retired in 2021 after spending 23 years as an agent. He returned to the Secret Service as deputy director last May.

Quinn came under scrutiny for his remarks during a '60 Minutes' interview that aired last Sunday on CBS News. 

During the interview, Quinn told Norah O'Donnell that drone swarms 'are a huge problem' and a 'big threat' for the Secret Service - even at places like the White House.

'I'd love to tell you the swarm problem is solved. It's not,' Quinn said, even as he stressed the relative safety of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The segment features shots of Curran and Quinn demonstrating the agency's counter-drone systems and technology, including a system that uses AI and radar systems. 

Both Quinn and Secret Service Director Sean Curran were pressed during the interview about the agency's broader struggle to respond to a rapidly changing threat environment, which Curran admitted was like nothing they had seen before.

The Secret Service has handled some 10,000 threat cases against its protectees since January, Curran said, a '40 percent' uptick compared to the same period last year.

Quinn's departure comes as the agency as a whole has struggled to respond to the rise in threats in recent years - including a rise in drone attacks and threats against President Donald Trump.

In the last year alone, threats have included an alleged drone plot attack at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House South Lawn in July, which was foiled by the Secret Service and the FBI, as well as a shooting at this year's White House Correspondents' dinner in Washington, DC, in April.

Other threats against the president's life were made both at his Florida golf course, and during a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally in July 2024, when a gunman fired eight rounds from the roof of a nearby building, nicking then-candidate Donald Trump's ear.

A DHS inspector general report published in June concluded that the Secret Service missed 'multiple' opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt the Butler gunman before he attacked. 

'Do we recognize the threat environment has increased? Absolutely,' Quinn told O'Donnell.

'How we do it and how we change - that's where we prefer to stay, in [the] background,' he said.