Calls are growing to overhaul the entire security system for U.S. President Donald Trump after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. After an armed assailant stormed the venue, where 2,500 political and media figures had gathered, the need to expand outer perimeters for VIP protection and to strengthen close coordination among related agencies came under scrutiny.
Reuters reported on the 26th that law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is closely examining whether there were any security gaps at the dinner held on the 25th at the Washington Hilton. At the time, a man from California carrying a firearm approached the event's lower level, where President Trump and cabinet officials were in attendance, before being subdued by a Secret Service (SS) agent. Investigators found that the suspect had checked into the hotel a few days before the event and bypassed basic security screening such as metal detectors.
The evacuation exposed serious breakdowns in interagency coordination. Video analysis shows Trump left the stage about 30 seconds after the shooting began. In contrast, Health and Human Services Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took 100 seconds, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and defense Minister Pete Hegseth were only able to exit the venue after 150 seconds. Trump said at a late-night news conference on the 25th, "The Washington Hilton is not a particularly secure building."
Experts said the security team should greatly widen the outer perimeter around large venues. Even the suspect in this incident, Cole Thomas Allen, 31, mocked in a statement describing his motives that "I expected security cameras at every corner, bugged hotel rooms, armed personnel every 10 feet, and a ton of metal detectors, but what I encountered was nothing."
Bill Gage, a former Secret Service mass action team member, told Reuters, "The Secret Service will need to find ways to make large hotels safer, even if it inconveniences hotel guests and the hotel." Don Mihalek, a former senior Secret Service agent, also said, "I am confident the Secret Service will revisit how events are structured and use this incident to push the perimeter farther out."
Shortly after the incident, key figures including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urged on social media that a large banquet hall be built on White House grounds. The U.S. government plans to review the overall security system surrounding the president and cabinet officials and seek specific changes.