Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn announced Friday that he is leaving the agency, an abrupt move following a string of high-profile security failures and a surge in threats targeting the president.
His resignation comes roughly two years after the assassination attempt against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incident was later described by then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle as the agency’s “most significant operational failure in decades.” It also follows a shooting at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
‘Today I informed the men and women of the Secret Service that I will be transitioning out of my role as Deputy Director,’ Quinn said in a social media post Friday.
“Director Curran and I have been working on a thoughtful transition plan for months now,” he added.
“Proud of the men & women of the USSS and all your accomplishments!”
Quinn, a veteran Secret Service agent, retired in 2021 after 23 years with the agency. He returned last May to serve as deputy director.
His departure follows scrutiny over comments he made in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday on CBS News.
Speaking with Norah O’Donnell, Quinn said drone swarms represent “a huge problem” and a “big threat” to the Secret Service, including at heavily secured locations such as the White House.
Deputy Director of the US Secret Service Matthew Quinn. Quinn announced his departure from the agency Friday, an abrupt decision that comes after a flurry of high-profile threats and foiled plots in the nation’s capital
FBI Director Kash Patel and Secret Service Director Sean Curran arrive at a press conference following a shooting in Washington, DC. Curran and Quinn acknowledged a sharp increase in threat cases involving their protectees during a “60 Minutes” interview
Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump is rushed offstage by Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally in July 2024
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“I’d love to tell you the swarm problem is solved. It’s not,” Quinn said, while emphasizing that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue remains relatively safe.
The segment showed Curran and Quinn demonstrating the agency’s counter-drone equipment, including technology that combines artificial intelligence with radar systems.
During the interview, both Quinn and Secret Service Director Sean Curran faced questions about the agency’s broader struggle to keep pace with a rapidly evolving threat landscape. Curran acknowledged that the current environment was unlike anything the agency had previously encountered.
Since January, the Secret Service has handled about 10,000 threat cases involving its protectees, Curran said. That represents a 40 percent increase over the same period last year.
Quinn’s exit comes as the agency confronts a sustained rise in security threats, including drone-related incidents and plots targeting President Donald Trump.
Over the past year, those threats have included an alleged drone attack plot at the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn in July, which the Secret Service and FBI foiled. They also included a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, in April.
Additional threats against the president were reported at his Florida golf course and during a July 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In that incident, a gunman fired eight rounds from the roof of a nearby building, striking then-candidate Trump in the ear.
A report released in June by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that the Secret Service missed “multiple” chances to identify, stop or disrupt the Butler gunman before the attack.
“Do we recognize the threat environment has increased? Absolutely,” Quinn told O’Donnell.
“How we do it and how we change—that’s where we prefer to stay, in [the] background,” he said.
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