US law enforcement officials are evaluating security arrangements for US President Donald Trump, following the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Officials considered that some of those present hearing the sound of bullets highlighted the weaknesses.

Published on: 04/27/2026 - 15:55 Last updated: 04/27/2026 - 16:36

With questions about how he was able to get so close to an event attended by the president, Cabinet members and lawmakers, US law enforcement officials are evaluating security arrangements for US President Donald Trump after a gunman opened fire near the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Two former Secret Service agents and three senior US officials reported that federal agents appeared to have effectively implemented their plan to protect the president on Saturday night when they stopped the suspected gunman before he reached the basement of the Washington Hilton Hotel, where Trump was scheduled to deliver a speech.

But officials said some attendees hearing the shots fired at a Secret Service agent highlighted the vulnerabilities, even after two assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 campaign prompted tougher security measures around the president.

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For its part, the Secret Service has not yet responded to a request for comment. The most obvious lesson from the incident, former law enforcement officials said, is that security personnel may need to extend protection around the president in large public places, even if doing so inconveniences the public.

Some American officials explained that the scope of security protection at Trump rallies is often much broader than what happened on Saturday.

Guests at Saturday's dinner were required to pass through metal detectors to enter the ballroom, but only needed a card to enter the hotel itself. A person with direct knowledge of the arrangements for the event said that several people had tried to enter using a ticket last year.

Officials said that the man, who arrived from California and appeared to rush past security and carry several weapons, turned out to have skipped even that basic step by checking into the hotel in the days before the event.

Expanding the scope of protection

Bill Gage, who served on the Secret Service's counterattack team for six years and is now director of executive protection at Safe Haven Security Group, said after-the-fact reviews will likely focus, at least to some degree, on pushing the metal detectors further to expand the outdoor range.

Gage added that the Secret Service "will have to find a way to better secure large hotels, which may cause inconvenience to hotel guests and to the hotel itself."

He added that the Secret Service would need to better coordinate the evacuation of other officials in the administration.

Several law enforcement agencies evacuated those present after the shooting, highlighting how the complex network of agencies responsible for protecting various VIPs can lead to seemingly uncoordinated responses.

According to an audio and video analysis conducted by Reuters, it took just over 30 seconds for Trump to be removed from the hall after the final shots were fired, but it took at least 100 seconds for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to leave. Kennedy Hall, and about 150 seconds until Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth exit.

Don Mihalak, a former senior Secret Service agent who has been involved in securing previous correspondents' dinners at the Washington Hilton Hotel, said securing the sprawling site has long posed challenges.

Mihalak continued, "I am sure that the Secret Service will go back and reconsider the arrangements there, and perhaps expand the scope of protection now, because of what happened."

Trump himself said in an impromptu press conference late Saturday that the Washington Hilton "is not a particularly secure building."

During the first assassination attempt against Trump, which occurred at an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, law enforcement officials were criticized for not imposing an effective security perimeter. This omission allowed a gunman to have a clear line of sight to Trump, who was a presidential candidate at the time, and was wounded in the ear.

"Surveillance cameras at every turn"

The shooter himself was among those who criticized the event's security measures, as he expressed in a written statement, which the New York Post first published, how lax security seemed.

“I expected surveillance cameras at every turn, bugged hotel rooms, armed officers every ten feet, and metal detectors everywhere... What I encountered (who knows, maybe they were kidding me!) was nothing,” the man wrote.

Influencers and conservative officials, including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, were quick to use the

A federal judge ordered a halt to construction of the White House Ballroom in late March, saying the project was illegal without Congress' approval, but a federal appeals court later suspended that judicial order.

One US official said he expected a review of the security procedures surrounding the president and his government, and perhaps some changes. A second US official noted that security measures were tightened for some members of the government when the war broke out on Iran in February.

France 24/Reuters

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