I ran the Trump shooting task force. I was shocked by all the security blunders at Charlie Kirk’s event… here are the crucial steps they missed

Jeffrey James had a tried and tested routine when protecting President George W. Bush.

Prior to a public event, he would visit the venue at least a week in advance.

He would stand where Bush would be standing and then slowly look around, taking everything in.

‘From that position, I would build the security outwards,’ said James, who served as a senior advisor to the task force investigating the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

‘I’d look at: OK, where are our vulnerabilities on high ground? Who is in close proximity? Who are they shaking hands with on getting out the car, or taking photos with?’

A 22-year veteran of the Secret Service, James says that outdoor events were the ones that gave him sleepless nights. Detailed plans were needed to thwart numerous potential threats, ranging from drones, mortar attacks, and even plane hijacks. And, of course, lone or multiple shooters.

For conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a presidential level of protection was obviously unrealistic.

His organization, Turning Point USA – a $100 million-a-year political action committee – certainly had the funds to provide good security, although nowhere near the level some high-profile targets require.

In 2024, for example, Mark Zuckerberg’s protection cost Meta $27 million; Kim Kardashian spends a reported $1 million a month.

Yet, as the awful reality of Kirk’s assassination on Wednesday at Utah Valley University continues to sink in – and with a 22-year-old Utah resident, Tyler Robinson, now in custody – the question is being asked: could more have been done to prevent the fatal shooting?

Veteran security experts – who between them have 78 years of experience protecting world leaders – have told the Daily Mail that the preparations and procedures in place on the campus must be scrutinized afresh.

Indeed, they believe Kirk’s murder will likely usher in urgent new protocols for future public events.

‘It’s really all about the advanced work – that’s where you keep the clients safe,’ said Bill Gage, who was on the presidential security detail for George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ‘It’ll be so interesting to see what was done.’

Donald Lane, a New Orleans-based former Secret Service officer, emphasized the importance of wide-ranging threat assessments ahead of a public appearance.

‘I call it protective intelligence – having a system whereby you vet the internet, email traffic, and do some intelligence-gathering to answer questions like: Are there any people that are out to get this particular individual? Is anybody making threats against the individual? How credible are [the threats]?’

But a presidential-level ‘ring of steel’ – those highly trained individuals at the ‘principal’s’ side who drive the vehicles and operate security screenings, the surveillance teams and protective snipers – set an unachievably high bar, he added.

Kirk, 31, employed his own private security firm, and the university’s police chief, Jeff Long, said he coordinated with Kirk’s lead security officer. The security officers should have carried out a site visit in the days leading up to the event, the experts agreed.

But Chris Swecker, who spent 24 years with the FBI, said it was ‘striking how under-manned the campus police departments are, and frankly, they’re just not equipped to handle this type of event’.

‘They had six officers,’ he said. ‘One university I’m advising for an event like this has maybe a dozen. But even that is nowhere near enough.’

There was an understandable reluctance from campus officials to ‘militarize’ them, Swecker added.

‘Colleges and universities don’t have the mindset, don’t have the appetite, to make it look like it’s a youth armed camp, so you’re not going to see a lot of visible security at these types of events on college campuses. The risk of a sniper from 200 yards is hard to prepare for.’

Swecker said it was more typical at an event like that in Utah to prepare for the kind of attack made on Ronald Reagan in 1981. The president was charged and wounded by a mentally unstable man as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.

‘You’re more likely to have one of those chaotic John Hinckley types, that tries to get up close and do something,’ explained Swecker. ‘That’s obviously what [Kirk’s security and campus police] prepared for.’

Many of the 3,000 students attending the event have expressed surprise that there were no metal detectors, bag checks or security screenings on the day. Tickets were issued but reportedly not even checked, meaning the event was open to all – just as Kirk liked.

Bill Gage, who was deployed to hotspots such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Pakistan, said a frequent challenge was navigating the competing demands of the security detail and the organizers.

‘The staff wants visibility. They want crowds. They want Charlie [Kirk] accessible; they want him out there,’ he said. ‘And it’s your job, doing the executive protection, to push back sometimes and say: We need this buffer. We need a six-foot gap here.’

Jeffrey James recalled in July 2003 having to tell President Bush that he should cancel a planned speech on Goree Island in Senegal, because despite local police promising to screen the crowds, they were ‘letting people pour into the town square’. Bush accepted the recommendation gracefully – but not all principals do.

All the security experts interviewed by the Daily Mail agreed that Kirk’s position at the rally was problematic. He was at a low level in an open area surrounded by buildings.

While a presidential security team would enforce the evacuation of nearby buildings and place snipers on rooves, Kirk’s suspected assassin was able to lie in wait on a flat rooftop, just 150-200 yards from his target.

The experts predict that this shooting is likely to force more events inside.

‘I think now we’ve seen a pattern with outdoor attacks – back to the Senate baseball game in 2017, and both attempted assassinations of Trump,’ said James. ‘I’d like to see them say: ‘’Hey we’re not doing outside anymore. It’s too much of a risk’’. It gives another page to the playbook of the bad guys.’