The director of the Secret Service disclosed to a broadcast outlet that threats directed at government officials had risen at a rate described as substantial over the course of 2026. Sean Curran, who has held his post for 25 years, appeared on a television news programme Sunday alongside Deputy Director Matthew Quinn.
Curran's appointment to the director role came from Trump, tied to his involvement as part of the response team at the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania rally. His predecessor, Cheatle, left her position after an attack at a 2024 rally left two people dead and one person wounded.
Curran noted that threats directed at those under full-time protection had risen by just over 40 percent compared with the previous year. He told the audience that threats recorded against Secret Service protectees had reached 10,000 within the current year alone.
Curran pointed to the internet as the primary factor behind the uptick, though he framed it as a personal assessment rather than a definitive conclusion. He noted that contact with individuals has become notably easier to establish and that data on a wide range of subjects has become far easier to obtain and retrieve.
Responding to a question about whether the president's standing as a divisive public figure played any role in the uptick in threats, Curran described the organisation as one that does not take political positions. Quinn noted that the agency's obligation runs to the communities it serves, then observed that opinions on any sitting president tend to fall along a spectrum — with supporters on one end and detractors on the other, drawn from across the political spectrum.
Mental health has been described as the predominant challenge facing people at present. Curran noted that the environment has shifted considerably over the past two decades, pointing to platforms like social media as a force reshaping how people behave. When pressed on whether threats originate more from one end of the political spectrum than the other, he indicated that his office does not categorise them that way.
The assessment of potential threats forms the basis of the evaluation process, and an examination of the matter is underway.
Data gathered by the Center for Strategic and International Studies pointed to a notable uptick in politically motivated incidents — at both local and national levels — attributed to left-wing actors during 2025, a pattern the organisation characterised as the first time in roughly three decades that such activity from the left had outpaced comparable figures from the right. By 2026, the pattern had shifted, with documented attacks attributed more often to right-leaning actors than to any other group during that period.
