Mike Slater (5:10)

Yeah, 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. Doesn't seem like the smartest move. So I did I read correctly that this would be assassin checked into the hotel as well? So like, yeah, what, what are you supposed to do? Like check a thousand people's bags the, the day before, two days before the event? And then if something's so big like this, are, are you, is the expectation that we kind of lock it down from the outside as well? Is that possible?

Mike Baker (5:45)

Yeah, you, I mean, again, you're, what you're pointing to, what you're raising is just the, the difficulties of, of, you know, locking things down security wise for a big event like this. But yes, the answer is yes. If I was running security and people are going to say, well, that's armchair quarterbacking. Well, no, in a sense it's not. Because the methodology, the protocols, the processes don't change. Right. You, it's very labor intensive and it has to be detail oriented. So yes, in today's world, you've got a president who's had two assassination attempts. You're going to put all of these senior administration officials together in one spot at a very high profile event in the midst of a war. Yes. You should be running due diligence on everybody checking in. Pick a time frame, say everybody within three days of the event, whatever. But then should you be checking bags? Damn right. You should be running those bags through just like you would at a TSA event. Right. And then you should be having constant counter surveillance inside that, that area. And you need to understand that your threat isn't just coming from outside. Now you've got, because of the nature of this event site, the threat could be inside. Right? So all of these things. And again, hey, look, the Secret Service is extremely capable, right. And they are dealing with a very difficult job. But again, these little things, these little attention to details, they don't change from, you know, you know, event to event. It just, you know, it's, it's site specific. And this site demanded that sort of attention.

Mike Slater (7:27)

Yeah. What about these metal detectors? So first of all, this, putting them what it seems like to be kind of at the last point before you go inside the ballroom. Although my understanding is that this all took place on a different level than the ballroom itself. So this guy would have had to get past the security, which he ran past for like a second and then go downstairs and then make. So there's, he said like a way to go. I don't know exactly know how he thought he'd be successful with this plan, but metal detectors, is that enough? Is that, is that a sufficient check before you go into a room with the President, It's.

Mike Baker (7:57)

It's a combination of things. Look, you know, there are certain services out there. Massage one of them. Their. Their security services that profile very well in crowds like this. To be able to look for indicators of concern, you have to do that. You've got the. The obvious, the technical means and the, you know, the magnetometers there. It's. It's a lot of things that have to work together in concert. And if one part falls apart, then, yes, it's a. It's a, you know, a human event. So you, you know, you. You've got to try to get the risk down to zero. You're never going to get it to zero, but you have to do everything possible to try to get it to zero. Now, look, I talked to some folks that were there that night, and again, you can argue, okay, maybe it's armchair quarterbacking, but they did say before the incident that some folks were talking about how they were surprised about what they referred to as lax security in the sense that they were able to get by. There didn't seem to be a lot of checking of tickets, not a lot of scanning, not a lot of checking of photo identification to ensure the person holding the ticket was that person. People sidestepping just to, you know, not stand in long lines to sidestep and try to get past the magnetometers. So it's, you know, and again, what have you got? Well, you've got multiple agencies trying to work together with different responsibilities within this entire event. You know, I keep going back to the same thing. It's difficult, but that's the nature of the job. You better do it right.

Mike Slater (9:30)

Yeah, And I hate when we have to do it. I don't like security. I don't like doing the whole process or whatever. But I think when you have the President of the United States in the room, as you mentioned, with so many assassination attempts already against his life, I think you got to go through the. The rigmarole, if you will. So it's one thing to know how difficult it is to lock down the D.C. hilton, but I was really worried the last couple weeks about the vice president and others in the administration going to Islamabad, Pakistan, for the Iranian peace talks. And all I was thinking about is, man, like, how do you lock down that place? Like, that's a risky place to go to. So it's one thing for the Hilton if you're so. So a Secret Service, but how does the Secret Service lock down Islamabad?

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Mike Baker (11:12)

Yeah that you, you've highlighted a real problem when you have to depend on a host nation, you know, primarily for security. Obviously they're traveling with again with Secret Service and we've got our own security protocols and they have to work with our liaison partners, in this case the Pakistanis. And they're, you know, Pakistani services are very, very good. But you're walking into a high threat environment even more so than you know, you know, going traveling to Europe or whatever. It's. The potential for, for problems is high. So you have to treat it as such. Right. Every, every event again has to be assessed to its own specifications. And so what do you do? Well, you ramp up your, your diligence, you ramp up your counter. Surveillance, your counter, you know, your intelligence gathering ahead of time. You work closely with liaison partners. You, to the degree you can, you bolster whatever they're doing. Some services are better at sharing and being willing to cooperate. In this case, the Pakistanis were very focused on ensuring successful meetings because look, they're desperate to, to play this role. They're desperate to be the mediators in this. It's definitely in their best interests. So they, they had a lot of skin in the game.

Mike Slater (12:30)

Yeah, it's true. My last question for you is as, I mean we could be critical of the security, but in the end, like it worked. They got him. He didn't make it very far. I don't know how much of that is on the kudos to the Secret service or a testament to how inept this guy was, maybe if there's someone who was better at it, maybe would have been more successful. But what do you make of the response, whether in that one particular place or what we saw with the president. Right. So we saw the Secret Service agent get in front of the president's table immediately. We saw the CAT team get out there within just a matter of seconds and whisking people away. What was your assessment of that experience?

Mike Baker (13:04)

Yeah, they do that very well. Look, they know what they're doing. You know, can you. Can you defend against every lone wolf? In other words, can you. Can you. You keep lone wolves completely away so that it's never seen, it's not on the radar. People aren't even aware that there was an incident that was under investigation. And they wrapped that up well before the event. No, it's just the nature of the beast, unfortunately. So when things do go sideways, look, the Secret Service and other elements of law enforcement responsible for this, they react very, very well. And so I have no problems with that. Their activities were spot on. Look, and you pointed to the fact, was this guy inept? Well, look, he had enough forethought, he had enough wherewithal to say, I'm going to check myself into this hotel. Right. He had picked his targets, he knew what he was doing, he brought his weapons. But yes, then it all fell apart. And clearly he's not Lex Luthor because his then this plan of attack was to bum rush the security point, right? And that's not gonna work. People are saying, well, he had a death wish. Well, no, he. He had a death wish, but he also had a plan. His intention was to. Was to kill. And so, yes, the security worked in that sense. Look, every time they have something like this, they do the same thing. Susie Wallace talked about it. The chief of staff, they're going to have this meeting with operations personnel at the White House and the Secret Service and the bureau and police. But, you know, they always do this hot wash afterwards and say, okay, what went right? What went wrong? And, you know, you would think after a while, I think the. I think the normal person out there walking around, not involved in security would say, well, look, how do they have to keep doing these briefings? Well, you have to, right? It's just, it's. Again, it's the nature of the beast. You never get this risk down to zero. So you always have to be assessing, you always have to be adjusting your methodology inside what. Basically, eventually there's not much else you can do, right? Can you keep the president completely safe. Any president. Yes. But then they can't do their job. So you've got to find that function properly and you're maximizing their security. And again, I can't stress it enough. It's a very difficult and complicated job.

Mike Slater (15:20)

I can't imagine if you said about it easy to be critical, but if you think about it for four seconds, you start to be overwhelmed by how seemingly impossible it is, especially when President Trump is not, not the kind of guy who's going to a bunker in the White House to. To alleviate any risk at all. That ain't happening. Mike Baker, we gotta run, brother. Great to talk to you. Go listen to Mike Baker every day. The President's Daily Brief. It's one of the top and best podcasts in the entire world. And for good reason. Mike, great to talk to you, brother.

Mike Baker (15:47)

Great to talk to you, Mike. Talk to you soon, man.