This year, though, it's a little different. President-elect Donald Trump has already been the subject of not one but two assassination attempts. The Secret Service is, well, not all it ought to be, as evidenced by their completely missing a nut with a rifle on a rooftop in Butler, Pennsylvania, within easy rifle shot of then-candidate Trump. They are, nonetheless, preparing for the inauguration. RealClearPolitics' Susan Crabtree has a few details. 

Behind the scenes, however, deep concerns remain that the Secret Service is still facing some of the same institutional problems exposed last summer and fall in the wake of two assassination attempts on Trump’s life. New threats and fears also have emerged since a pair of New Year’s Day attacks on ordinary Americans, including one in which a U.S. Army veteran rammed a truck into a crowd of early morning revelers in New Orleans the same day an active-duty U.S. Army solider blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, killing himself.

Secret Service Agent Matt McCool, who heads the Washington Field Office and is leading security preparations for the inauguration, during a Monday press conference with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and other federal and local law enforcement officials, said a combined force of 25,000 law enforcement officials and members of the military will be on hand to provide security for Trump’s swearing-in ceremony. The festivities include an inaugural parade in which presidents and first ladies traditionally walk at least part of the route from the Capitol to the White House alongside the presidential motorcade, flanked by contingents of Secret Service agents.

One wonders if the President-elect might be persuaded to forgo the parade, especially the part traditionally walked. Not only is the weather in the District supposed to be unpleasant, but that would seem to be the moment of greatest vulnerability.

See Related: From Butler, Pennsylvania to Washington DC - Donald Trump and Destiny

President-Elect Trump To Hold Huge DC Rally Before Inauguration: Let's Hope Security Is Dialed in

A nut with a rifle is one thing, but the repeated sightings of large, unidentified drones around the country, most notably in New Jersey, are a matter of serious concern. There is a saying in military circles that states that "We are always training to fight the last war," and that applies as well to organizations like the Secret Service; they may well be focused on on-the-ground threats, lone actors like the two unhinged individuals on the previous attempts on Trump's life. But a technology-based attack may be much more difficult to counter.

Dan Bongino, an 11-year veteran of the Secret Service and conservative commenter, however, still harbors concerns about the drone threat. On his Tuesday podcast, Bongino argued that FAA’s temporary flight restrictions are not easily enforceable, describing them as mere “stop signs” that can be violated.

“They’re basically suggestions, if everybody doesn’t agree to stop, okay…there are other things we can do to make sure planes don’t and drones don’t violate the [flight restrictions],” he said, noting he didn’t want to disclose Secret Service sources and methods. “However, I’m not sure we have the manpower for all that.”

I'm not giving anything away by noting that there are real vulnerabilities here. 

Most assassinations of political figures are carried out by individuals or small groups acting more or less on their own. But with the support, even well behind the scenes, of a nation-state - like, say, Iran - would be a major game changer. Drones, weapons, and logistical support could all make an attempt on a principal's life much more difficult to counter. The kinds of large drones that are being sighted in various places can easily carry an explosive the size of a typical grenade or even a mortar shell, capable of doing a lot of damage and even defeating light barriers like the bulletproof screens presidents routinely speak from behind. And drones are cheap - is the Secret Service prepared to counter a swarm of ten, twenty, or fifty drones?

The Secret Service, along with the FBI and local police, who are likewise detailed for different aspects of security at these events, are not equipped for this - or even for a simple rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired from some distance away. And in much of the world, the old Soviet RPG-7 is damn near ubiquitous.

Oh, and we have millions of military-aged men who are in the country illegally, and for almost all of those young men, our officials elected and appointed have very little idea where they are, what they are doing, or even why they are here. If people can be smuggled in, so can weaponry. That's something to think about.

Could any of them be among the crowds of expected protestors?

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, at Monday’s press conference, said law enforcement agencies are expecting more than 10,000 protesters to D.C. that weekend and into Monday. He said the biggest threat the inauguration faces is from an unknown lone actor.

“That threat of the lone actor remains the biggest justification of us staying on a heightened state of alert throughout the next week,” he said.

No such attempts will likely be made - and even Iran, run by a cabal of barbarians, is so insane to think that if they were implicated in an attempted assassination of a president of the United States, anything other than overwhelming and catastrophic retaliation would (rightly) be their portion. But a thing may be unlikely while not being impossible; before 9/11, few if any considered it likely that some barbarians would hijack airliners and turn them into impromptu missiles, but that happened. These, the threat of drones, military-grade weaponry, and aggressor state support, are the threats that the Secret Service should be considering, should be war-gaming, and should be prepared to counter. 

This is, after all, their job.