The Butler assassination attempt exposed a Secret Service that couldn't protect the president.
Director Sean Curran has spent a year trying to rebuild the agency from the inside.
Now three of Curran's own people are gone – and nobody's saying what they did.
The Air Force One Leak That Started the Criminal Investigation
On July 8, President Trump wrapped up the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey – and Iran was waiting for him at the airport.
U.S. intelligence – gathered jointly by the NSA, CIA, and Turkey's MIT intelligence service – had intercepted information indicating Iran was preparing to shoot down Air Force One on departure.
Trump was moved off the plane in an airport catering truck, transferred to a smaller C-32A military aircraft, and flown out while the original Air Force One departed as a decoy – carrying Cabinet members, Secret Service agents, White House staff, and the entire press pool, who had no idea the president wasn't on board.
Then someone leaked it.
The Washington Post broke the catering truck story on August 11.
Days later, CBS News published a more detailed account – revealing that the NSA, CIA, and Turkish intelligence had intercepted information about a potential Iranian missile team, and disclosing the precise timeline of when the decision to move Trump was made.
That second leak was the one that lit a fuse.
Kash Patel and the Hunt for the Source
FBI Director Kash Patel had already launched a separate investigation after the Washington Post's initial report.
What CBS News published went far beyond a general account of a plane swap – it included which intelligence agencies detected the threat, which foreign services were cooperating, and how quickly the decision to move Trump was executed.
Retired Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson, who carried the nuclear football for President Clinton, said after the first leak that only a very small circle of people knew the details of the Turkey operation.
That circle just got smaller.
On Monday, Secret Service Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi and two colleagues from his department were walked out of their offices and designated "do not admits" – federal security parlance for immediate, complete access termination.
Security clearances suspended, government devices seized.
RealClearPolitics national correspondent Susan Crabtree, citing two sources familiar with the matter, first reported the suspensions as part of a criminal investigation into leaked classified information.
One source told Crabtree that both the FBI and CIA are involved.
Anthony Guglielmi and What the Secret Service Comms Chief Knew
Guglielmi has run Secret Service public communications since the Biden administration – surviving the fallout from Butler, the resignation of the agency's previous director, and a two-year stretch of security failures that would have ended most careers.
Last month, Guglielmi himself announced that a Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance's detail was facing a criminal inquiry over a separate suspected media leak – agents had reportedly complained to journalists about last-minute travel demands from Vance and his family.
Now Guglielmi is the one under investigation.
The Secret Service confirmed three non-law enforcement employees were placed on administrative leave pending a review by the Office of Professional Responsibility, but declined to confirm Crabtree's reporting that the probe involves classified leaks or that the FBI and CIA are participating.
Iran Read Every Word of Those Leaks
Communications staff at agencies handling classified operations routinely process sensitive information before it goes public – if that access is how the Turkey details reached reporters, investigators already know where to look.
Every one of those people just had their clearances pulled.
Those two leaks handed Iran a damage assessment. Tehran now knows which U.S. agencies were watching, which foreign intelligence services cooperated, and how fast the Secret Service can execute a presidential evacuation once a threat is confirmed.
Tehran's intelligence services read American newspapers.
Next time Iran moves against a presidential aircraft, it will do so knowing exactly how little time the Secret Service has to react.
Curran personally shielded Trump during the Butler shooting before Trump selected him to lead the agency. He has overhauled training, tightened coordination with local law enforcement, and held agents accountable in ways his predecessor refused to.
Monday's suspensions are Curran and Kash Patel telling whoever leaked classified details about a presidential evacuation that a criminal investigation is now their problem.
Sources:
- Susan Crabtree, "Secret Service Spokesman, Two Others Suspended Amid Leak Probe," RealClearPolitics, August 26, 2026.
- "3 Secret Service Officials Placed on Administrative Leave Pending Investigation," Associated Press, August 26, 2026.
- Staff, "3 Secret Service Officials Under Investigation for Potential Misconduct," Breitbart, August 26, 2026.
- Staff, "Reports: Three Secret Service Members Placed on Leave Over Security Leaks," Townhall, August 26, 2026.
- "Trump's Secret Plane Switch Took Place Within a Day of Credible Iranian Missile Threat," CBS News, August 2026.
