US Secret Service Rushes to Alaska to Prepare for Trump-Putin Summit

Complex task of planning security for both leaders compressed into one week

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ANCHORAGE — The call to Mr. Beau Disbrow was unlike any the Anchorage realtor had ever received. His short-term rentals typically house tourists bound for glaciers or business travelers passing through. This time, the request came from the U.S. Secret Service.

“Most of my short-term rentals were booked, but I did manage to put some of them into one home,” he said.

It was not the last inquiry connected to the highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin set for Aug. 15.

Soon after the Secret Service call, the Russian consulate in New York called Mr. Disbrow with the same request. With no vacancies left, he referred the officials to a friend with furnished homes sitting empty.

When Mr. Trump announced the Alaska meeting a week ago, the lone agent assigned to the Secret Service’s post in the last frontier began preparing to host hundreds of reinforcements in the days ahead.

The agency’s mission was unusually complex: to protect both the American and Russian presidents at the same site, each surrounded by a heavily armed security detail.

Four people familiar with the planning said the operation became an all-out sprint, compressed into a single week.