“I expected security cameras on every corner, bugged hotel rooms, armed officers every three meters, metal detectors everywhere. What I found – who knows, maybe they’re playing a prank on me! – is nothing.” It’s a extract of the manifesto written by Cole Tomas Allen, the author of the attempted attack on the Hilton Hotel during the correspondents dinnerwhere he adds: “I go in with several weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat, this level of incompetence is crazy, and I sincerely hope that it is corrected by the time this country has truly competent leadership again.” “Any Iranian agent could have brought a heavy machine gun and no one would have noticed,” concludes the Californian teacher of 31 years in a text, published by ‘The New York Post’ where he argued the reasons for his action.
Allen had stayed at the hotel “a day or two before” the event, as confirmed by the interim fiscal general Todd Blanchetemporarily replacing lacesada Pam Bondi. Security around where the dinner was being held only required passing through metal detectors to enter the ballroom. For everything else, a paper entry, or a screenshot of it, was enough. In fact, some anti-war protesters managed to gain access almost to the door simply dressed in formal clothes.
Officials familiar with the security plan for the event have reported in the pages of ‘The Washington Post’ that the Trump Administration provided a lowest security level for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner than the one he offered in other meetings of senior officials, despite the presence of the president, his wife and prominent members of the Cabinet, including Vice President JD Vance, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“A huge success in security”
When so many officials gather in one place for official events such as an inauguration or the State of the Union address, the Secretary of Homeland Security usually puts the secret service in charge of coordinating all security through a formal designation known as “National Special Security Event”. However, that designation, according to the North American newspaper, was not applied on Saturday night at an event also attended by thousands of journalists and other government officials.
He Acting Attorney General Todd Blanchestated Sunday that he did not consider the incident a security breach since the attacker was detained before reaching the ballroom. “On the contrary, it was an enormous success in terms of security,” Blanche said during an interview with CNN. “I mean, if you think about what happened, the suspect barely managed to breach the perimeter,” he added.
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