President Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony Monday featured the most important, most advanced safety footprint of any inauguration in U.S. historical past.
The nation’s capital was reworked seemingly in a single day from a pedestrian-friendly metropolis into a frightening and impenetrable fortress – the results of a multi-agency process drive that erected 30 miles of anti-scale fencing, coordinated aerial surveillance and drones, and noticed the deployment of tens of 1000’s of legislation enforcement, navy personnel, undercover brokers, and nationwide guard vans throughout D.C.
The spectacular, whole-of-government safety effort on Inauguration Day was unprecedented, and never with out cause: Trump was the sufferer of two assassination makes an attempt in the course of the 2024 marketing campaign — together with a shooter who got here so near him as to nick his ear — and a home risk panorama that was heightened additional by the terrorist-inspired assault in New Orleans and the execution-style killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan late final 12 months.
It is notable, then, that this 12 months’s sprawling safety footprint didn’t expressly embody one key element thought of elementary to U.S. custom: The naming of a delegated survivor.
Fencing stands in entrance of the U.S. Capitol. (Eric Thayer/Getty Photos)
In D.C., the tightly coordinated federal safety efforts have been fastidiously deliberate lengthy forward of Trump’s inauguration ceremony by the Secret Service and lots of different federal businesses.
It is each a nod to latest safety issues, and extra largely an effort to guard the U.S. physique politic, overseas dignitaries, donors, and 1000’s of attendees from any mass disaster or risk.
The designated survivor, who in a catastrophic occasion would bear the accountability of main the U.S. within the aftermath of a disaster, is usually a Cupboard officer when main safety occasions put elected officers multi functional spot, equivalent to inaugurations and State of the Union addresses.
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President Donald Trump and first girl Melania Trump attend the Commander In Chief Ball on the Walter E. Washington Conference Heart in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Earlier designated survivors have included former DHS secretary Jeh Johnson, former Vitality Secretary Rick Perry, and former Protection Secretary Robert Gates, who was tapped for the function throughout President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Gates, a George W. Bush appointee, was saved on by Obama and served in his Pentagon function till July 2011, in response to his official Defense Department biography.
The survivor’s location, and typically identification, stays confidential till after the occasion disperses and its attendees have safely returned dwelling. In high-profile occasions, a broader contingency plan is in place.
As Garrett Graff reported in 2016, Gates’s function as designated survivor throughout Obama’s inauguration additionally included the assist of one other authorities heavyweight — James Clapper, then the undersecretary of intelligence — who stowed away in the course of the ceremony deep in an underground authorities bunker in Pennsylvania, a backup to the backup, if you’ll, and a nod on the detailed succession plan fastidiously crafted by a gaggle protection, intelligence, and different federal businesses over the span of some 40-plus years.
So it was notable that no designated survivor was named in the course of the forty seventh presidential inauguration.
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President Donald Trump attends the Commander in Chief Ball in honor of his inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, 2025. (Reuters/Daniel Cole)
No cause was given for the absence of the designated survivor, which was first reported by NBC News.
It is attainable that the sprawling safety presence coordinated within the run-up to Jan. 20 was deemed enough to guard in opposition to any threats.
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President Donald Trump critiques the troops throughout his inauguration ceremony in Emancipation Corridor of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025. (Greg Nash/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
It is also attainable the occasion, which was held indoors and thus restricted to the general public and to members of the information media, was restricted sufficient as to not warrant the designated survivor.
Forward of the occasion, FBI and Secret Service personnel pressured the stringent safety measures in place and the tight vetting of any ticketed attendees.
David Sundberg of the FBI’s Washington Area Workplace told Fox News earlier this week that the bureau was not monitoring “any particular or credible threats” for Inauguration Day.
“All attendees will endure screening,” mentioned Matt McCool, particular agent in command of the Secret Service’s Washington Area Workplace.
These people instructed Fox Information that the fencing alone is greater than every other designated Nationwide Particular Safety Occasion prior to now.
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“Designated checkpoints shall be arrange for members of the general public fascinated about attending the inauguration,” McCool mentioned forward of the inauguration — a protocol additionally utilized to attendees of the modified Capital One festivities, which have been moved inside on account of frigid temperatures.
Neither the White House, DHS nor the FBI instantly responded to Fox Information Digital’s request for touch upon the absence of a delegated survivor.
Fox Information Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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