President Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony Monday featured the most important, most complicated 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 activity pressure that erected 30 miles of anti-scale fencing, coordinated aerial surveillance and drones, and noticed the deployment of tens of 1000’s of regulation enforcement, navy personnel, undercover brokers, and nationwide guard vehicles throughout D.C.
The spectacular, whole-of-government safety effort on Inauguration Day was unprecedented, and never with out motive: 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 menace 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 embrace one key part thought of basic to U.S. custom: The naming of a chosen survivor.
Fencing stands in entrance of the U.S. Capitol. (Eric Thayer/Getty Photographs)
In D.C., the tightly coordinated federal safety efforts had been rigorously deliberate lengthy forward of Trump’s inauguration ceremony by the Secret Service and lots of different federal businesses.
It is each a nod to current 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 menace.
The designated survivor, who in a catastrophic occasion would bear the duty of main the U.S. within the aftermath of a disaster, is often a Cupboard officer when main safety occasions put elected officers multi functional spot, similar 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 Middle in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Earlier designated survivors have included former DHS secretary Jeh Johnson, former Power Secretary Rick Perry, and former Protection Secretary Robert Gates, who was tapped for the position throughout President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
Gates, a George W. Bush appointee, was saved on by Obama and served in his Pentagon position till July 2011, in response to his official Defense Department biography.
The survivor’s location, and generally id, stays confidential till after the occasion disperses and its attendees have safely returned residence. In high-profile occasions, a broader contingency plan is in place.
As Garrett Graff reported in 2016, Gates’s position 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 rigorously crafted by a bunch 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 motive was given for the absence of the designated survivor, which was first reported by NBC News.
It is doable that the sprawling safety presence coordinated within the run-up to Jan. 20 was deemed ample 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 Photographs)
It is also doable 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 confused the stringent safety measures in place and the tight vetting of any ticketed attendees.
David Sundberg of the FBI’s Washington Area Workplace advised Fox Information earlier this week that the bureau was not monitoring “any particular or credible threats” for Inauguration Day.
“All attendees will bear screening,” mentioned Matt McCool, particular agent accountable for the Secret Service’s Washington Area Workplace.
These people advised Fox Information that the fencing alone is greater than another designated Nationwide Particular Safety Occasion previously.
“Designated checkpoints will likely be arrange for members of the general public fascinated with attending the inauguration,” McCool mentioned forward of the inauguration — a protocol additionally utilized to attendees of the modified Capital One festivities, which had been moved inside resulting from frigid temperatures.
Neither the White Home, DHS nor the FBI instantly responded to Fox Information Digital’s request for touch upon the absence of a chosen survivor.
Fox Information Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
