PDB Special Bulletin | Baker & Slater: WHCD Shooting Raises Major Security Questions
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, I wanted to share this interview that I did this week with my good friend Mike Slater on his terrific podcast. It's called Politics by Faith. Now, we get into the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner and what it says about the current threat environment. And we tackle a bigger question. In today's world, with all the divisiveness and hateful rhetoric, can the Secret Service keep President Trump safe? Take a listen and be sure to make a habit of listening to Politics by Faith with Mike Slater.
Welcome back to Politics by Faith, the Age of Assassination. Let's get more detail and insight on what happened in this most recent assassination attempt in Washington, D.C. with the great Mike Baker, host of one of the top podcasts in the entire world, The President's Daily Brief. Mr. Baker, how are you, sir?
I'm doing good, Mike. Thanks very much, man.
Good to talk to you. Thanks for being here. So you operate in the private security realm now after your CIA days. What, based off your insight and experience, did you see that was odd with the security at the DC Hilton?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What happened during the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner?
We have a security services group inside the company that I've got. And here's the problem. You're talking about the Washington Hilton. For people who don't live in Washington, aren't familiar with it, it is the largest hotel, the largest event hotel in D.C. For people who have been in D.C. a long time, it's morbidly known as sort of the Hinckley Hotel because that's where John Hinckley attempted to assassinate Reagan. And The problem is because of its size, it creates a variety of issues for security. You've got multiple, multiple entrances. You've got a thousand guest rooms.
What security concerns does the incident raise for the Secret Service?
So by definition, and it's always busy, you've got a lot of people milling about. And the Secret Service, Metropolitan Police in particular, they have to work with that. That's where they're going to hold the event. They've held the event there forever because That's about the only place you can put that many people. So the things that stuck out for me were not a surprise necessarily that they had some issues with the sort of this what they call the layered security approach. But it's the other things. they should be doing what you typically do is if you're hosting a major event where you've got real security concerns at a hotel then you run due diligence on all the guests those that have just checked in those that have checked in in the past couple of days you want to you want to try to get a sense of who's in that environment and so you do some thorough due diligence
So I don't know that that was done. And I don't know whether it's fair to draw a connection to that and the fact that it looks like a family member of the gunman did submit a report to police, their local police, saying they were concerned about the state of mind and some of the things that this individual had said leading up to this event. I don't know whether that's fair or not. That's partly speculation on my part until the investigation is finished. So that's one issue that I think really does stand out for me. Also, the number of dignitaries or senior administration officials was a real surprise. It was like they were emptying out the clown car. Every cabinet secretary, I mean, a lot of cabinet secretaries, the vice president, obviously the president, he's the guest of honor at these correspondent dinners.
That's a lot of people to put in an environment like this where you know you're dealing with a very dysfunctional political environment. So I was surprised at the fact that they loaded it up with that many senior administration officials.
We just took out like 40 people of the Iranian leadership because they all happen to be at one place. And then we go ahead and put all of our guys at one place. Didn't seem like the smartest move. So did I read correctly that this would-be assassin checked into the hotel? So like, yeah, what are you supposed to do? Like check a thousand people's bags the day before, two days before the event?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:09–1:21
2
What happened during the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner?
1:21–2:00
3
What security concerns does the incident raise for the Secret Service?
2:00–6:48
4
How did the size of the Washington Hilton impact security?
6:48–11:06
5
What security measures should have been in place for such a high-profile event?
11:06–14:02
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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