President Donald Trump was secretly moved onto a smaller government jet during a trip to Turkey last month after the Secret Service deemed a shoulder-fired missile threat against Air Force One to be credible and imminent, according to a person briefed on the matter.
The threat emerged on July 8 on the final day of Trump’s visit to Ankara for the NATO summit, occurring amid heightened tensions with Iran. According to sources, officials had little time to prepare and devised the evacuation plans at the last minute because there was an intent to execute a threat, even though there was no clear plan by those hostile to Trump for how to carry it out.
Secret Aircraft Switch and Evacuation Details
To pull off the sudden transfer, a catering truck was used by Trump and a small entourage to covertly move from the large blue-and-white presidential plane onto a smaller, plain C-32A aircraft for their departure out of Turkey. The group accompanying Trump in the catering truck included White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp, and director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta, a person briefed on the matter said.
Meanwhile, Air Force One departed separately carrying U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio—who was briefed on the maneuver—along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House communications director Steven Cheung, other White House staff, and a 13-person press pool that included a Reuters correspondent and photographer. Trump flew from Ankara to a refueling stop in Britain without incident.
“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump told reporters on August 11, speaking at the direction of the Secret Service regarding presidential security. “I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”
Analysis of the Missile Threat
Douglas Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, noted that the threat may have involved a new type of heat-seeking missile that homes in on hot aircraft engines, which has become an increasing concern for military planners. These weapons are harder to detect than traditional radar-guided threats because they do not send out detectable radio waves. Birkey pointed to specific models including the Iranian SA-67, which uses a simple rail launcher and heat-seeking or laser guidance systems, as well as the Russian-made 9K333 Verba shoulder-mounted heat-seeking weapon.
According to The New York Times, American authorities were unsettled to learn that Iranian operatives possessed knowledge of Trump’s lodging details in Ankara, down to the exact floor of his hotel. While U.S. presidents have occasionally traveled under secrecy when visiting war zones or high-risk regions—such as George W. Bush’s surprise Thanksgiving 2003 trip to Baghdad—the first source emphasized that the Secret Service did not have the luxury of time in Turkey while scrambling to head off the imminent threat.
? How should security agencies balance the safety of a president against the potential risks posed to accompanying staff and journalists during sudden operational ruses?
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