Former DHS official on challenge of protecting President Trump

[0:00] continue the conversation now with abc news contributor and former dhs official john cohen [0:04] so john the president did praise law enforcement for tackling that suspect and protecting him of [0:09] course but authorities say that an armed man you know did make it into the hotel so how do you [0:16] defend against this well kira that's the challenge right i mean we have seen other examples recently [0:26] where you have individuals who are intent on conducting a mass casualty attack and they will [0:33] target a location that is open to the public that's accessible and they'll try to enter that [0:39] location to conduct an attack in this case the attacker obviously had a plan he traveled by [0:47] train from california to dc that allowed him to avoid the vetting that we all go through when [0:54] we fly and it also allowed him to load his guns into his baggage without it being scrutinized [1:01] he as you pointed out earlier he was checked into the hotel early we don't vet people against law [1:07] enforcement information systems when they check into a hotel by checking in early he was able to [1:12] take his guns to his room in his bags because we don't search bags when you check into a hotel but [1:18] more importantly it also allowed him to engage in pre-operational surveillance he was able to wander [1:23] the grounds of the hotel find stairways uh plan his his attack route um and you know the fact that [1:30] this event was taking place in a hotel even with the security that was in place that evening um [1:37] increases the challenge for law enforcement to secure it so let me ask you something john because [1:42] you know this as well when you travel overseas like when i traveled to egypt even at the very nice [1:48] hotels because of the environment and the dangers that exist everybody goes through a metal detector [1:54] as they go in and out that hotel every day 24 7 every suitcase every bag i mean shouldn't that had [2:04] happened shouldn't there have been a process in place knowing how controversial this administration [2:11] has been the assassination attempts that have already taken place all the people that were going to be [2:16] there uh and the fact that this was taking place at the hotel shouldn't there have been more security [2:23] measures taken prior to saturday night to make sure no one was checking into the hotel that could have [2:31] been a danger so you're raising a number of really important points one uh we have and you and i've [2:38] discussed this over the past several years we are in an incredibly dangerous threat environment here in [2:43] the u.s we are experiencing targeted attacks directed to government officials we're experiencing public [2:49] violence we're experiencing an increase in mass casualty attacks according to the gun violence archive [2:55] we have had over 120 mass shootings in this country since the beginning of the year that's more than [3:02] last year same time period more than the year before we have seen a number of disrupted plots we've seen [3:08] incidents occur such as the attack on the synagogue in michigan um we are in a highly dangerous threat [3:15] environment secondly uh as you also pointed out uh if you travel to europe you're under much more [3:21] scrutiny they they much they use extensively closed circuit tv systems um i've stayed in hotels in europe [3:28] where they take your identification they're vetting it against law enforcement information systems you are [3:34] you are observed as you're walking into uh and around the hotel grounds um and you know we even had a [3:40] situation once when we were meeting some friends in the lobby and as they entered the hotel they were [3:45] stopped by hotel security they were questioned about what they were doing in the hotel we also need to [3:50] start thinking differently about these uh high profile public events these are the high priority targets [3:56] for those engaged in these types of targeted attacks these are the types of targets that terrorist groups [4:02] foreign intelligence services are encouraging um individuals who are considering an act of violence [4:08] to target you know we have the world cup coming up we just saw a plot disrupted uh for the new [4:13] orleans jazz fest um we need to start thinking differently and more expansively about how we secure [4:20] these public events particularly when they're being held in public locations look here's the bottom line [4:26] even if they build the ballroom and it's highly secure you're not going to have every church service [4:31] every um every religious service in a synagogue you know across the country every campaign event [4:38] every government event every public event occurring in that ballroom so we need to get serious across [4:45] this country about how we secure these whole high profile events particularly when you have uh government [4:52] officials uh and high visibility individuals attending those events yeah bottom line things are just going to [4:58] have to change and as you know six server secret service agents were suspended for failures connected to [5:03] the assassination attempt against the president in butler pennsylvania so do you think that secret [5:08] service learned enough from that and you know i what do you think the after action report will look like [5:16] here and at the end of the day they're going to have to take different precautions yes so you're raising a [5:24] couple really important issues yes they'll do an after action report yes there'll be things that they can learn about [5:29] they'll look at how the the magnetometer checkpoints were set up they'll look at you know whether the [5:35] elevators and the stairwells could have been better secured they'll look at all that and as you pointed [5:40] out at the end of the day the personnel on scene did what they were supposed to do they stopped the [5:45] attack from occurring and they were able to get people the president the vice president and other [5:49] protectees out of that room and into a secure location but you're raising another really important point [5:55] um we have fewer federal law enforcement agents on the job today than we had two years ago through [6:03] retirements through attrition um there are fewer agents that are available to do this type of work [6:09] we also have seen the administration reduce funding and other resources for counterterrorism [6:15] preventing targeted violence analyzing online content that may be intended to incite violence to deal with cyber security issues [6:23] so at the same time we're experiencing this growing significant threat to the united states one that [6:30] we saw manifest itself at the the correspondence dinner this past weekend um and that we see manifest [6:35] itself literally weekly across this country we have fewer federal law enforcement personnel and fewer [6:42] federal resources available to combat that threat so maybe we need to reevaluate our priorities a little bit [6:48] from a national perspective as well sure we will be john thank you so much