
LINDEN, NJ — With the return to office of President Donald Trump, New Jerseyans can expect delays as the president makes frequent visits to his golf course in Bedminster, just as he did in his first term of office.
But that’s not something unique; it’s just part of the business of protecting the president of the United States of America.
“Whenever there is a reasonable need for government, there will be excessive overreach. If they need to protect two miles, they will protect 20 miles,” said Paul Dudley, Linden Airport Management Corp. owner as well as the owner and manager of Linden Airport, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, Jan. 27. “Unfortunately, there have been recent attempts on Trump’s life that have made it necessary.
“The Secret Service and other government agencies spend a lot of time chasing down threats, real and otherwise.”
The U.S. Secret Service has more than 8,300 employees as of 2024. The USSS is composed of special agents, Uniformed Division officers and administrative, technical and professional support personnel.
“There are hundreds of people in the Secret Service and in government agencies who deal with threats,” said Dudley. “Unfortunately, there have been some very public incidents. We have irrefutable evidence there are some bad actors out there and the protective services have their hands full.
“One of the results of recent attacks is to escalate measures beyond their normal restrictions. That includes not just highways but airspace. It’s a very serious inconvenience, but it’s in response to a very serious threat.”
The recent attacks to which Dudley was referring include the assassination attempt of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, in which an assassin with an AR-15-style rifle wounded the then former president in the ear. He also killed one audience member and critically injured two others before he himself was killed by the USSS’s Counter Sniper Team.
Then, on Sept. 15, 2024, another suspect was spotted in the shrubbery aiming a rifle at a member of Trump’s security detail while the former president was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The gunman fled the scene but his vehicle was later pulled over by Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and he was arrested at gunpoint.
It is for these very reasons that security is elevated whenever Trump visits Trump National Golf Course Bedminster.
“Whenever the president is coming or going into the area, while he is flying, the airspace is restricted, to make sure he is protected from deliberate as well as accidental threats,” said Dudley. “We want to make sure everyone knows the airspace is closed. This is what has to be done. It’s impossible to tell a pilot who’s off course from the pilots who attacked the World Trade Center.
“When he’s in Bedminster, the area around him is restricted, to give the government time to react to any kind of threat. While he is in the airspace, coming and going, they shut everything down. If there are many aircraft, that job becomes impossible. If the airspace is clear, that job becomes possible, so they sterilize the airspace. Most of the time, it is a manageable inconvenience.”
Whenever Trump visits his New Jersey golf course at Bedminster, prompted by security concerns from the Secret Service, the Federal Aviation Administration imposes “temporary flight restrictions” that prohibit all air traffic within a 10-mile radius of Trump National Golf Course and strictly restrict air traffic within a 30-mile radius whenever Trump is in town. These FAA restrictions affect airports throughout the Garden State, causing all sorts of hardships. Some can’t conduct flight training, skydiving flights or balloon flights. And, unfortunately, there is no compensation for this inconvenience.
“Linden is a home base to about 100 aircraft,” said Dudley. “We are also a federally designated reliever airport for Newark. This means we get a high percentage of transient aircraft. If someone wants to come into this area with an aircraft, be it an airport or helicopter, they can come here. They can get fuel. It’s no different than if you travel with a car. You park where you can park and get fuel. And the airport parallels that.”
But when the president visits, it affects air traffic everywhere.
“While we can easily notify the clients who are based with us, we don’t know who is going to be coming to us from another airport,” said Dudley. “It’s like if you have a gas station. At any given time, you don’t know who is going to be pulling into your place. We have to make the extra effort that all of our homebased aircraft are informed. We have to also try to inform any aircraft coming into our airport at Linden.”
But what if someone flies where they shouldn’t?
“The government takes this very seriously, in that they have combat fighter aircraft and helicopters on patrol who will intercept aircraft,” said Dudley. “They will call us and ask who just departed from our airport, because they just broke the TFR – temporary flight restriction. If an aircraft breaks into an area that is temporarily restricted, depending on their direction, if they feel there is any threat, they will intercept it with fighter aircraft – or helicopters, if it is a slower airplane. They will then direct them to follow them out of the area.
“You have to be 100% right 100% of the time. They investigate every incursion until they determine it is not a threat.”
“Your next step is education,” he continued. “If someone has violated the restricted area, they will be retrained so they will not violate this again.”
This might seem as if it were overkill, but the president’s security is very serious business. And while presidents at the birth of this nation might have been able to walk freely among the people, those days are long past. Presidential security has been common for some time, particularly when presidents fly home to visit.
“Most of our presidents and legislators fly close by,” said Dudley. “The same thing happened in Delaware, where President Biden used to go. President Nixon used to go to San Clemente, California. President Kennedy used to go to Hyannis in Massachusetts. Every president, when they’ve gone home, wherever home is, still needs to be protected. The White House is a fortress. The burden of trying to protect the president when he’s not in that fortress is massively complicated.
“Airspace restrictions are just one ingredient in the mix. On the ground, we have traffic control. At residences, we have perimeter control. The Secret Service has had to install checkpoints on streets, or fences or cameras.”
Meanwhile, when the president goes somewhere, steps will be taken to ensure his safety, whether he travels to Bedminster, West Palm Beach, Florida, Linden or wherever. As inconvenient or time-consuming as it might be for people who live and work in that particular area, for at least the next four years, this is how things will happen.
“There are things that have to be done,” said Dudley. “There are seriously bad actors who would like to harm the president, either because they don’t like him or want to cause chaos in the country. There are others who just want to talk to him. You have to know the difference between the threats, the people who are crazy and the people who just want to meet him.
“This is an ongoing process. Linden is a grain of sand in this ocean. We do our part when we’re needed. We just have to ensure that we do our best. To ensure that we continue the protection for whoever is the sitting president.
“It’s inconvenient for people with planes, but it’s a necessary evil in our society.”