Noem responds to Secret Service scrutiny as Trump to become 1st president to attend Super Bowl

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the U.S. Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting President Donald Trump while he makes history Sunday as the first sitting U.S. president to attend the Super Bowl. 

The Secret Service falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security. Asked if she’d had sufficient time to get into the department and investigate the lapses leading up to the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Noem told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream that DHS was “moving in the right direction,” while stressing that hundreds of other DHS personnel outside Secret Service alone would be deployed during the game. 

“And I’m proud of Secret Service and all the work that they do every day. They make incredible sacrifices to keep people safe, and on the investigative side, have a lot of that training as well,” Noem said. “But for this event, we’ve deployed many other assets as well. We’re obviously working with the local authorities, with the governor and with his agencies that he has that he’s detailed to this.” 

“But we have several different agencies under the Department of Homeland Security that have put hundreds of individuals, investigators and military police folks that are used to these kinds of crowd control and security operations in their other departments that are focused on today to make sure that this big event is going to be safe and that we’re going to make the right decisions in these situations that could arise and get everybody home safely,” Noem added. 

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The Super Bowl is being hosted in New Orleans, just a month after the New Year’s Day terrorist truck-ramming attack against Bourbon Street revelers killed 14 victims and injured 35 others. The Super Bowl is DHS’s largest event of the year. Noem was asked what changes there are as far as security preparations, now that Trump will be in attendance at the Superdome in New Orleans to watch the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles. 

“It is so special that the president, the first time in history is going to the Super Bowl,” Noem said. “So, while we have been focused on security operations there for many, many months and have been preparing for this day, to have President Trump be there just amplifies the message that a great game means that everybody got to go celebrate, support their team and leave and get home safely.” 

On Friday, Trump told the New York Post that he ordered the Secret Service to hand him “every bit of information” known about his two would-be assassins, Thomas Crooks and Ryan Routh. 

“No more holding back because of Biden,” Trump reportedly said. “I’m entitled to know. And they held it back long enough.” 

“I want to find out about the two assassins,” the president added. “Why did the one guy have six cellphones and why did the other guy have [foreign] apps?” 

Last week, Noem and NFL security officials hosted a press conference detailing preparations ahead of the game. 

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At the time, she said DHS would have around 700 personnel on the ground for the game, but would not be specific about the numbers because “we maintain the prerogative to adjust those numbers as we see fit.” 

Beyond the ground response, Noem said DHS also had regulations in the air regarding drone traffic, as well as cybersecurity operations to monitor online activity. 

“We will be utilizing different agencies and departments under the umbrella of Homeland Security, but President Trump has also made a commitment for us to be able to deploy other assets from other departments and agencies, and I appreciate the flexibility that he has given us to make sure that we’re addressing this even in a way that we see as responsive coming forward,” Noem said. “We’re grateful for that interagency support, and I believe that it is unprecedented.” 

“This Super Bowl exemplifies how we come together to safeguard our traditions,” Noem said. “How we come together to make sure the public is well-informed and gets to celebrate something that’s very special to us – to our culture, to our people and to our families. But we also do it in a way that’s reactive to what we see as the current environment that we see in the world today. The world is a much more dangerous place, but here in the homeland, we are safe.”  

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said he was deploying an additional 350 National Guard troops to support the federal effort.

Noem recognized the “strength, unity and resiliency of this city” in the wake of the Jan. 1 terrorist attack, adding that there were no specific, credible threats to the Super Bowl at that time.