Trump/Putin Alaska summit: Former Secret Service agent adds perspective on location, security measures

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - As Alaskans wait for an official announcement of where Friday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place, a former U.S. Secret Service agent shared his perspective with Alaska’s News Source on the inner workings of such a high-stakes summit.

“I’m not a political scientist, but I have had a chance to see behind the curtain working at the White House for a number of years and seeing these types of events all over the world,” said Bobby McDonald, Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of New Haven.

“This is a big deal,” he continued. “This is a big deal that my guess is that there is something brewing in a positive fashion — otherwise, this wouldn’t be happening.”

Trump announced on Friday that he plans to meet “very shortly” with Putin in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential major milestone after expressing weeks of frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting.

On social media, Trump wrote: “The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska.”

That’s left many to wonder just where that meeting will likely take place. While nothing is yet certain, some — including Gov. Mike Dunleavy — have speculated the most reasonable location would be on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

Alaska’s News Source reached out to JBER for comment; officials directed all questions to the White House. Officials at the White House declined to comment.

Numerous community members have speculated that hotel rooms blacked out Thursday and Friday at Girdwood’s Alyeska Resort could mean it’s a potential location. Staff have not returned a request for comment to Alaska’s News Source.

As a former operations supervisor in the U.S. Secret Service academy in Beltsville, Maryland, McDonald is considered an expert in executive protection, intelligence, and event planning operations, as well as a leading authority for protective travel logistics and training.

McDonald said while holding a meeting of this magnitude at a military base makes the most logical sense, he said keeping the location close to the chest is to be expected purely based on security purposes.

“I think you’re going to be looking for venues that can hold a number of people from each of the countries that could provide holding rooms, hotel rooms, areas where people can be fed,” McDonald said. “That could be a local hotel or a larger hotel in Anchorage, or just outside a coliseum, any type of venue that you have that would be able to host an event.

“Let’s be honest, this is an event, whether you compare it to a concert or to a revival or whatever you wanna call it, it’s an event that has a political implication, but it also has the security implication.”

Security implications also play into the sudden nature of the announcement, which, according to McDonald, wasn’t as sudden as it may seem to the public. He said these types of negotiations are often handled on lower levels for long periods of time before reaching higher figureheads.

“There are people talking all the time on this, we just don’t see it on the news every night,” McDonald said. “As it gets better and better and closer and closer, that’s when the heavy hitters come in and get the camera.”

As for why Alaska was chosen as a meeting place between the two powerful leaders, McDonald said it’s likely a combination of a halfway meeting for all parties, as well as isolated enough to cut down on a “circus-type atmosphere,” while still providing all of the appropriate security measures and accommodations.

“Maybe ... they’re looking at this as being an efficient meeting on a base where security will allow them the privacy and the time together to get something done and not have the distractions of other things going on,” McDonald said. “I think that all of the entities planning are going to take into account every possible scenario that could come out of this and see where it goes. I think that they’re going to be ready for anything.”

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