In my four decades protecting lives – from the streets of the South Bronx as an NYPD detective on the Robbery and Weapons Squads to building and leading a powerful security company – I have never seen a more disturbing pattern of incompetence.
In the past 22 months, there have been four documented assassination attempts against President Donald Trump.
My experience growing Brosnan Risk Consultants from a one-man basement operation to a firm deploying over 7,000 elite security professionals across 43 states has enhanced my ability to spot small gaps, systemic breakdowns, and inexcusable lapses that others ignore.
I was physically present at each of these four assassination sites.
I walked on rooftops, searched the perimeter, and tested protocols myself.
What I found is not just failure, but an alarming level of negligence that will get the president killed unless we act now.
On July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, Thomas Matthew Crooks took advantage of catastrophic failures in communications, coordination, command, and control.
Local, state, and federal agencies collapsed at the most basic level.
The shooter was the only person who thought about launching a drone into the air that day: incredibly, none of the multiple agencies on the scene did so.
Thanks to readily available anti-drone technology, integrated with strict security protocols and real-time commands, Crooks would have been identified and neutralized long before he scaled Building 6 and opened fire.
Two months later, on September 15, 2024, Ryan Wesley Roth hid in the bushes at the Trump International Golf Course with an automatic weapon for nearly 12 hours.
Twelve hours – when a simple canine patrol can identify him in minutes.
The complete absence of multi-layer proactive detection assets on this golf course was inexcusable, almost fatal.
On February 22 of this year, Austin Tucker Martin attempted to breach the north gate at Mar-a-Lago armed with a rifle and a gas can.
I’ve personally ridden my motorcycle through that exact gate over 100 times, so I’ve seen it in action: It was an old, heavy gate with a slow turn that took up to 60 seconds to close.
Any competent security plan would have ensured that the portal closes almost immediately, like a mousetrap, when a threat is detected, eliminating the window for breach.
The risk was identified after a hack in February and was quickly patched, and has now been replaced with an updated portal that closes at lightning speed.
This is what smart security planning requires – constant reassessment – because a Winter White House cannot be protected by half-measures.
Then came the attempt on Saturday during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when Cole Thomas Allen ran through a magnetometer with multiple weapons and shot a Secret Service officer on his way to the International Hall as the event was getting underway.
Plainclothes and uniformed officers strategically stationed in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel knocked him out cold before he reached the checkpoint.
Furthermore, magnetometers were to be mandatory at the hotel’s Connecticut Avenue entrance for the duration of the event.
The 1,107-room Hilton — which was likely packed with 2,000 or more guests and 2,500 attendees — required a full throttle and suppression screening: metal detectors, bag searches, and ID checks for everyone, including hotel guests.
Even then, a second magnetometer checkpoint was needed outside the hall, with armed officers stationed at the base of the escalator, stairs, and throughout the lobby.
However, these basic layered security measures were ignored.
These attempts to assassinate Trump were not random acts of God.
The near misses were a predictable result of outdated thinking, weak technology, fragmented leadership and personnel who lacked the elite training and battlefield mentality required for this level of threat.
After spending a lifetime building systems that bridge every little gap, I know what works: seamless integration between the best and brightest – former Delta Force, Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and senior law enforcement – combined with world-class canine, counter-drone capability, rapid response protocols and zero tolerance for slow gates or blind spots.
We’re running out of time.
We must get smarter immediately – and demand truly comprehensive, rigorous security designed by leading professionals – or we will see attempts like this again and again.
Sooner or later, someone will succeed, and someone will kill the President of the United States.
The American people deserve better. Trump does that too.
No previous president has been subjected to this number of confirmed attempts on his life.
Obviously, what worked for Jimmy Carter did not work for Donald Trump.
Different world, different rules: The entire playbook of the U.S. Secret Service — from protocol and policy to procedures and staffing — must undergo a complete overhaul.
We need the highest level of protection this nation can provide before the next attempt against Trump becomes the last.
Patrick J. Brosnan is a former NYPD detective and founder of Brosnan Risk Consultants, the nation’s largest private security firm.