Question: Why does Director Jacobs authorize Secret Service protection for Speaker Trumbull when he becomes Acting President when the Speaker of the House already has a protection detail? Or, does the Speaker of the House normally not have any? Was that just for a dramatic moment in the film to show that, even in a crisis, things still happen by arrangement?
Question: What happened to the terrorists in the garbage trucks after the attack moved inside the White House? We just see their trucks there when the response team arrives. I figured they would be told to engage the response team in a sort of last stand to cause as much chaos as possible.
Answer: One of the garbage man terrorists was killed; the others were fully prepared to die for the cause. After all, they had accomplished their objective. They were no longer needed.
Question: If the terrorists in the AC-130 gunship were to directly attack the White House, then what was the purpose of them shooting and killing civilians before doing so? Was it simply because Kang's group was maniacally there to kill people and they didn't care who?
Answer: Whilst this is never explicitly explained in the film, I do believe that it was exactly that: kill as many people, civilian or authorities, as possible before achieving their final goal.
Answer: Tip O'Neill didn't have a security detail.