Secret Service issues warning ahead of White House Correspondents' Dinner, says threat level is ‘off the charts’

Days before the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the Secret Service reports a surge in threats.

The US Secret Service has warned that the threat environment facing President Donald Trump and other protected officials is at its highest level in decades, days before the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner. The agency said it has launched nearly 10,000 threat investigations this year alone.

Members of the US Secret Service counter assault team scan the sky from the rooftop of the White House before President Donald Trump arrives back to the White House. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Speaking ahead of Friday's event in Washington, DC, Secret Service Director Sean Curran said the agency has opened roughly 10,000 protective intelligence cases since January, nearly 40% more than during the same period in 2025, according to CBS News.

"The numbers are numbers that this agency and certainly I have never seen in my 24-year career," Curran said.

Why has the threat level increased?

Secret Service officials attributed the surge to a combination of online threats, lone actors, ideological grievances, foreign adversaries and individuals experiencing mental health crises.

"The environment has become very volatile, and that's just across the board," Curran said. "The threat picture and environment is as large as I've ever seen it."

According to CBS News, officials said most threats now originate online rather than through traditional methods such as handwritten letters. The agency has also carried out nearly 10 times as many mental health-related interventions this year as it did during the same period last year.

Those interventions have included voluntary and involuntary commitments, as well as coordination with relatives and mental health providers to help stabilize individuals considered to be at risk.

Rather than relying on demographic profiles, investigators evaluate behavior when assessing potential threats, looking for warning signs such as stalking, harassment, escalating grievances, obsessive fixation, paranoia, delusions, suicidality and an unusual interest in violence.

Security in focus

The warning comes ahead of the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner, which will be held Friday at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington after the original event in April was disrupted by an alleged assassination attempt outside the venue.

Curran defended the security measures used during that incident, noting that an armed individual was stopped at a screening checkpoint before reaching the protected area.

"We do expect bad people to show up," he said. "It's just a reality of where we are."

He added that the security system functioned as intended because the individual was intercepted at the magnetometers before getting any closer.

Iran, drones remain key concerns

Officials also identified Iran and drones as among the agency's biggest security concerns.

Deputy Director Matt Quinn said Iran's publicly stated threats against Trump continue to shape the Secret Service's protective planning.

"I don't think it's any secret that it's been in the media that Iran has publicly said they want to kill President Trump," Quinn said, adding that both public and classified intelligence are factored into security operations.

Quinn also described drones as an increasingly serious risk. "The threat's real," he said. "We look at Ukraine. We look at just basic intelligence. It's a matter of time before it comes to the United States."

According to CBS News, the Secret Service has expanded the use of drone detection and mitigation systems at the White House and other protected locations, while counter-drone assets now travel with the president.