The second in command at the U.S. Secret Service abruptly resigned Friday, just as the agency is facing some increasingly uncomfortable questions about its counter-drone program, including allegations that agents who celebrated taking one down at last year’s Army-Navy game had actually knocked one of their own drones out of the sky.
Deputy Director Matt Quinn announced his resignation in an internal agency email that went out Friday, according to Susan Crabtree over at RealClearPolitics (RCP). His last day will reportedly be November 7.
Quinn originally retired from the Secret Service back in 2021, then spent three years working as a senior vice president at Fortem Technologies, the company behind the DroneHunter counter-drone system, before returning to the Secret Service last year in the role of deputy director.
And that connection is drawing some serious scrutiny.
Quinn appeared alongside Secret Service Director Sean Curran in a 60 Minutes segment last Sunday, and the two highlighted the agency’s counter-drone capabilities, which included a demonstration of the DroneHunter. However, Quinn’s previous association with Fortem was not disclosed during the program.
RCP is also reporting that some current and former agents have questioned whether Quinn recused himself from decisions involving the Secret Service's purchasing of the company’s technology.
🚨🚨🚨@RCPolitics EXCLUSIVE: FULL STORY behind the resignation of the Secret Service’s No. 2 today -- Deputy Director Matt Quinn -- among a series of drone controversies. Did the Secret Service shoot down its own drone over the Army-Navy football game last year in a friendly-fire incident, then try to sell it to 60 Minutes as a win? Secret Service sources want answers and tell RCP an agent or officer took out the agency's own drone, which then fell on or near I-395. Quinn, a longtime veteran of the Secret Service, also worked for Fortem Technologies, which manufactures the DroneHunter, before returning as deputy director last year. The DroneHunter is known to have several technical issues, which have prevented or delayed its full implementation by the Secret Service. What role did Quinn play in the agency's purchasing decisions regarding the DroneHunter? READ THE FULL @RCPolitics story in the link below.
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) October 16, 2026
🚨🚨🚨@RCPolitics
EXCLUSIVE: FULL STORY behind the resignation of the Secret Service’s No. 2 today -- Deputy Director Matt Quinn -- among a series of drone controversies.
Did the Secret Service shoot down its own drone over the Army-Navy football game last year in a friendly-fire incident, then try to sell it to 60 Minutes as a win?
Secret Service sources want answers and tell RCP an agent or officer took out the agency's own drone, which then fell on or near I-395.
Quinn, a longtime veteran of the Secret Service, also worked for Fortem Technologies, which manufactures the DroneHunter, before returning as deputy director last year.
The DroneHunter is known to have several technical issues, which have prevented or delayed its full implementation by the Secret Service.
What role did Quinn play in the agency's purchasing decisions regarding the DroneHunter?
And then there's that story from last December's Army-Navy game, which took place in Baltimore and was attended by President Trump, some Cabinet officials, and several members of Congress.
60 Minutes reported that the Secret Service used electronic jamming equipment to bring down a drone while the game was being played, but it turns out that the drone may have actually belonged to the agency itself.
One source said that a tactical unit had become “trigger happy” during the game and failed to communicate with the team operating the surveillance drone before taking it down. Agents initially celebrated the takedown before realizing it was actually a “blue-on-blue” incident.
Given the communications failures that ended up being exposed after the 2024 assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, these new allegations about the agency leave you wondering if the Secret Service has actually fixed any of the problems that nearly got the president killed.
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