The Trump administration's extraordinary maneuver to shield the President from an alleged assassination threat from Iran last month by secretly moving him to a different plane has raised new questions about how often the Secret Service resorts to such tactics. Former Secret Service agents tell TIME that such security measures, while rare, are not without precedent in the agency's playbook for handling credible threats.
Read more: Trump Breaks Silence on Secret Plane Switch in Turkey Over Possible Iranian Threat
Multiple outlets reported that the Trump administration orchestrated an elaborate plan to get Trump out of Turkey during the NATO summit on July 8, transporting him via a catering container to a military plane, after intelligence officials flagged a specific threat tied to Iran.
Moments before Trump was shuttled off the plane, he was seen by reporters boarding the original Air Force One instead of the new one donated by Qatar due to its lack of defensive capabilities. Reporters and White House staff on the aircraft were unaware of the fact that the President was not on the plane until after he had already switched planes again in Britain.
Jason Russell, a former Secret Service Agent who spent eight years protecting presidents and planning security details ahead of presidential trips, says that the President boarding Air Force One is normally the last thing that happens before the plane closes its door and begins taking off.
“For him [Trump] to get on a plane, and then have a catering truck pull up to the side of the plane, anybody who's actually paying any attention to how Air Force One operates, should have been, like, ‘That's strange,’” Russell said.
Russell explained that flying is usually deemed the safest way to transport a President because airspaces are normally severely restricted for Air Force One to pass by. Yet threats remain, including drone attacks and even surface-to-air missile attacks.
“Obviously, the Air Force One is equipped with some countermeasures and some security that hopefully never have to be used,” Russell says, adding that there's also an airspace security division within the Secret Service that regularly works with the military to ensure the president’s safety while traveling on air.
Robert McDonald, who spent 21 years with the Secret Service, including on the Presidential Protective Division and as a supervisory agent on then-Vice President Biden's detail, said the plane-swapping operation in Turkey reflects real-time improvisation by presidential security personnel rather than a standing procedure.
“I'm sure they started preparing as soon as they found out about the threat,” McDonald said in an interview. “I'm not sure they had the luxury of having many days or even potentially many hours.”
McDonald described the decision-making process around such operations as a joint effort among the Secret Service, the White House Military Office and White House staff, with "no one entity" holding more authority than the others.
The Department of Defense has referred questions from TIME to the White House. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.
White House pool reporters deceived
McDonald pushed back on the idea that Air Force One and the people still aboard it, including journalists, were left exposed. “I would find it incredibly hard to believe that those two planes weren't escorted or with other assets from allies or the U.S. Air Force in the area,” he said, adding that he doubted the people on the aircraft “were dangled out there and left to fend for themselves.”
The operation broke a White House tradition that presidents rarely travel without a group of reporters known as the White House pool, to ensure the public has an independent account of the president’s activities. Former President Barack Obama broke the tradition in 2010 by leaving the White House to attend his daughter’s soccer game without telling reporters.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton secretly switched to an unmarked plane for a trip to Pakistan. At least one member of the White House pool, a reporter covering the trip for USA Today, was briefed on the operation beforehand, according to The Washington Post.
On the secrecy around the maneuver in Turkey—with even journalists traveling with Trump left in the dark—McDonald said limiting the circle of those informed is standard practice, especially now. “We're in a time now where instantaneous news articles are going out—TikTok, Instagram, Facebook,” he said. “That doesn't help the plan that the Secret Service needs to implement.”
Ultimately, McDonald said, judgments about the optics of the operation are secondary to its outcome. “Everybody that I'm aware of got home from that trip to Turkey," he said. "The bottom line is everybody got home safe. That's the main function of the Secret Service.”