An apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump on Sunday was another stark reminder of the challenges the Secret Service faces when protecting a president abroad, security experts told Business Insider.
The Secret Service fired shots at a suspect after agents saw a man with an AK-47-style rifle at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president was playing, authorities said. It remains unclear whether the man fired the gun before the security team engaged him.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the suspect was between 300 and 500 meters from the former president.
After being shot by the Secret Service, the suspect fled the scene. Details from an eyewitness allowed the man to be apprehended by law enforcement while driving away on the highway.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw holds a photo of the rifle and other items found near where a suspect was discovered at Trump International Golf Club. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
According to intelligence and security experts who spoke to BI, a would-be assassin who was spotted and detained indicated that the former president’s security detail handled the situation exactly as they were trained.
“This is a very good result, considering the number of people they had to deal with,” Kenneth Gray, a former FBI special agent, told BI.
Sunday’s incident is the second time in two months that Trump’s life has been put in danger, underscoring how difficult it is to protect him in an outdoor environment, let alone on a golf course, experts said.
On July 13, Trump was injured after a man fired several shots during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The man, who was seen on the roof of a building about 147 meters from the podium, was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
The agency faced immediate backlash over its handling of the rally’s security, prompting an independent review of the incident ordered by the Biden administration.
“Look, all events in nature are nightmares,” Jeffrey James, a former Secret Service agent, told BI. “That’s how I described the rally where President Trump was shot, because when you’re outside, the footage goes on for thousands of feet.”
James was a Secret Service special agent for 22 years, serving during the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. In an interview, he told BI that a golf course, one of Trump’s frequent venues, presents unique challenges for the Secret Service.
Law enforcement personnel began investigating an area around the Trump International Golf Club on Sunday after an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
James said that as a former president, Trump does not receive the same security package as a sitting president. But the fact that he is nominated and an attempt on his life was made in July changes the scope of the security detail, he added.
However, the Secret Service faces several limitations and blind spots on a golf course.
“There’s only so much any kind of law enforcement or defense service can do in these kinds of situations where there are large open areas,” Matthew Shoemaker, a former intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, told BI.
James, the former Secret Service agent, agreed that a golf course is “essentially open” outside of the tree line or vegetation, where a suspect could easily hide.
“So someone could be in a row of trees 15 feet deep in the shade and the president is walking or riding in the center of the fairway, where he’s in an open stance,” James said.
A satellite image of Trump Golf Club in West Palm Beach shows the location of holes 5 and 6, where the incident occurred. Google Maps
In addition to blind spots, James added that the Secret Service would never shut down an entire golf course — even for a sitting president.
“It’s not always practical to close things like roadways — that can get very wide. And then you start cutting off commerce and traffic just for the president playing golf, and then it becomes hard to justify something like that,” James said.
Instead, the former agent said a security detail would set up a perimeter around where the president is playing golf.
During his time in the Secret Service, James said his team usually had an agent coming out of a hole in front along with a “tracking element” to ensure no one could sneak up on the president. James said there was also a team that would be close to the president in case he had to be captured and evacuated.
“The agent who was in front, who saw it — that’s exactly what he or she should have done,” James said.