Secret Service’s deputy head says drone swarms are a “huge problem” the agency has not solved yet

October 11, 2026 / 7:00 PM EDT / CBS News

The Secret Service is working out how to handle threats that have evolved beyond a lone gunman to attack drones.

Deputy Director Matthew Quinn is leading the agency's new multimillion-dollar program to develop offensive and defensive drone capabilities. Among the new tools in the agency's arsenal is an artificial intelligence and radar-guided drone hunter, which disables enemy drones and captures them with a net.

"Swarms are a huge problem and a big threat," Quinn said. "I'd love to tell you the swarm problem is solved. It's not. I will tell you that at the White House, White House is the safest place on Earth."

The war in Ukraine has become a testing ground for the weaponization of drones. And that hasn't gone unnoticed by the Secret Service.

"We know that technology is going to hit the homeland at some point," Quinn said. "So we're using lessons learned there to build our program and make sure we're ahead of it before it gets here."

It's about planning ahead, Secret Service Director Sean Curran said.

"We have to assume that it's possible," Curran said. "The second we're not, we're going to get…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/