US presidential security deliberately weak – anti-terrorism expert
The latest assassination attempt on US President Donald Trump was not only a complete security failure but a product of systemic weakness that may even be deliberate, a special forces veteran of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has told RT.
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31‑year‑old teacher from California, has been charged with trying to assassinate the US president during a dinner event at the Washington Hilton on Saturday. Allen had reportedly checked into the hotel the day before. On the day of the attack, he used an internal stairwell to get to the hotel’s terrace level where the event was held. Armed with a pump-action shotgun, a semi-automatic handgun, and three knives, Allen rushed through the metal detector frame and engaged in a gunfight with Secret Service agents. He was apprehended just a few meters from the ballroom.
Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Popov, a veteran of the FSB’s elite Alpha Group anti‑terrorism unit, has argued that the Secret Service made a number of blatant “organizational mistakes” and suggested that its repeated failures to prevent attacks on the American leader are “part of the system.”
According to Popov, such an incident would have never happened if the Security Service had followed standard security and anti-terrorism procedures and had done its due diligence ahead of the event, such as properly vetting all the hotel guests, reviewing building plans, sealing doors and ventilation, setting up proper metal detectors, and stationing additional security forces. “In a decent hotel, a person from the budget zone simply cannot physically get into the VIP zone,” he said.
In Russia, such an incident could have never taken place, Popov argued, noting that any sort of attack on the government’s top leadership could likely only be attempted by a very large organization, such as a foreign power or a major terrorist organization.
He pointed out that even security systems in the Moscow Metro are of a much higher standard than at the Trump dinner, with metal detectors that cannot be physically bypassed and multiple security officers in high traffic areas. “Moscow can afford this, but the Hilton hotel apparently cannot,” he remarked.
Popov suggested that the Security Services’ repeated failures indicate an “organizational problem in the protection of US presidents” which is “not accidental, but part of the system.”
“There is a systematic destruction of the Secret Service which is not being allowed to develop or strengthen,” Popov said, pointing to continued underfunding of personnel, reorganization, and reshuffling based on “idiotic gender preferences.”
According to Popov, the Secret Service appears to be intentionally kept this way to allow “certain forces” to have “the possibility of physically eliminating the US president” if he “does something against their will.”
“This is not even only about Trump. This has probably been going on since Kennedy. So that the president feels, as we say, someone’s hot breath on his back if he suddenly misbehaves and does not listen to someone’s advice,” Popov suggested.
At the same time, Popov admitted that there are certain abnormalities in the latest attack on Trump, suggesting it could have been staged. He, as well as a number of keen-eyed users online, have noted the unusually calm response of some of the attendees to the gunshots and even Trump’s own demeanor during and after the incident.
“To him, it did not seem like a surprise,” Popov said, adding that “Americans actively use such things to interrupt an information wave that is unfavorable to them at that moment.”
“We see that already in the news summary. Nobody is reading the US reports on the war on Iran. Everyone is only laughing. Iran is winning. And that, in my opinion, does not make Trump very happy.”
Popov predicted that, as with the previous assassination attempts on Trump, nobody will be held responsible for this latest incident, and that no changes will be made in the Secret Service, which must be “kept in a deprived state” to allow further attempts on presidents.
“It is part of their democracy. If they suddenly elect the wrong president, the truly democratic forces must have the ability to correct the situation by eliminating him.”
