Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in an interview that the agency had used subterfuge and decoy planes to conceal President Donald Trump’s whereabouts before the secret operation that allowed him to leave Turkey this summer amid reported Iranian threats.
“Look, that’s not the first time we’ve done that,” Curran told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in a preview for a “60 Minutes” segment scheduled to air Sunday.
Curran also said he wished the operation had never been made public.
“We wish that wasn’t reported because that takes some of our tactics away from being able to do something similar again,” he told O’Donnell.
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The maneuver took place July 8, when Trump was leaving a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, amid intelligence about a possible Iranian missile attack targeting his plane.
Trump initially boarded Air Force One in view of cameras before secretly leaving the aircraft through an airport catering truck and transferring to a smaller military plane.
Air Force One then flew to Britain with journalists, White House staff and senior administration officials aboard, while Trump traveled separately. Many passengers were unaware the president was no longer on the plane.
Trump later confirmed the switch, saying the Secret Service and military wanted him aboard a different aircraft because of the threat.
The tactic has been used by previous presidents. In March 2000, President Bill Clinton traveled to Pakistan aboard an unmarked aircraft while another plane resembling Air Force One served as a decoy.
Unlike Trump’s flight, however, the Clinton White House briefed a representative of the traveling press corps about the security arrangements.
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