Question: How does Mike not know about Cerberus? Wouldn't the Secret Service be informed about what that is, since they are the ones who guard the President and the other code holders with their lives?
Question: When the terrorists masquerading as Lee's protection detail were being scanned as they came in, how was Kang's face not immediately red flagged? Since he was "one of the most wanted terrorists in the world", wouldn't that facial recognition data go through all FBI, CIA, INTERPOL, and Homeland Security databases?
Question: Why was July 5th the day of the planned terrorist plot? Was it just a coincidence, or did they think that the day after Independence Day would be the day people would least suspect and therein catch DC off guard?
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: How did Mike know that Forbes was a traitor and working with the terrorists?
Answer: Forbes slipped up by mentioning the head bad guy's name. And, as good an agent as Forbes was, it is highly doubtful, not to mention suspicious, that he'd still be roaming around by himself this long after the fall of the White House. Plus Mike ain't stupid and most likely smelled a rat. And he was correct. Forbes was dirty.
Answer: Mike was told that there was no other agent alive in the White House, and they didn't send any more to attempt a rescue, that means if all the good agents are dead, only a rogue one can know who the mastermind was.
Question: As the Cerberus codes have been entered, with the time limit set prior to the missile's destruction, how did Jang expect to leave the country within what I assume was the 5 minute time limit and not feel the fallout from the nuclear missiles, or be killed or at least full of radiation, and also, why take the president then?
Answer: Kang wanted the USA to suffer famine and be a 3rd world country. His plan was to get in, set off all the warheads and plunge the USA into the dark ages. During one of the exchanges between Kang and Mike, Kang says "I just want the USA to experience poverty and famine." So he had no plans to survive his mission. He needed the president to gain the 3rd code incase it couldn't be broken by the hacker. He faked the presidents death to give himself more time with the president.
Answer: My best guess is they went in knowing it was a suicide mission.
That suggested answer doesn't make any sense. Jang idea was to capture the code to start a war presumably between N &S Korea. There is no indication that Jang's computer whiz had the ability crack the code, or was even trying, and that sounds unlikely. I think the whole story line went off the tracks at that point and they were trying to wrap up the shooting. Pretty shaky in my opinion. Just a movie with some good stars and and a lot of stuff got blown-up and the good guys won.
Answer: The Washington monument is destroyed in one scene and in a later scene, it is fully erect.
This isn't an answer, this seems to be a mistake entry.
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.