Officials recommend overhaul of Secret Service

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday published an independent review of the nearly successful attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump in July. The report urged the federal government to overhaul the entire U.S. Secret Service after identifying problems with the actions of agency personnel before, during, and after the assassination attempt.

How has the Secret Service responded? U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald L. Rowe said Thursday that the service looked forward to working with the Department of Homeland Security and Congress to address failures that contributed to the mid-July incident. But, he added, the agency was not waiting to act and had already made significant improvements since the shooting.

How did we get here? On July 13, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots in Trump’s direction from a vantage point roughly 150 yards away from the stage. The GOP nominee for the presidency had traveled to Butler, Penn., where he spoke to roughly 15,000 people. A Secret Service countersniper shot Crooks in the head just moments after the would-be assassin began shooting. But Crooks still managed to injure Trump, wound two rally attendees, and kill an off-duty firefighter in the crowd.

President Joe Biden ordered Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to assemble an independent panel with the mandate to review the incident and the U.S. Secret Service’s actions. The panel identified several significant lapses, failures, and miscommunications that allowed Crooks to orbit the event for hours, set up with a rifle relatively near the stage, and fire.

What specific failures did the report identify? The report alleged that security personnel at the event failed to take ownership of keeping the former president safe. The panel also found that Secret Service agents did not communicate effectively with local law enforcement agencies. Federal agents failed to secure the line-of-sight that Crooks used to aim at Trump. The panel also accused personnel from federal and local agencies of failing to confront Crooks hours after initially observing him. It also accused authorities of neglecting to notify Trump’s security detail about Crooks’ presence after they initially observed him.

Were there bigger-picture issues with security? The panel said inexperienced Secret Service agents at the scene didn’t exercise critical thinking throughout the event. The panel accused the agency of trying to get more security out of fewer resources, and not auditing and improving security protocols. The Secret Service also failed to provide sufficient training facilities and requirements compared to other government agencies, the panel said.

What did the panel suggest as solutions for those issues? The panel recommended the federal government fill leadership posts at the Secret Service with people with experience outside the agency. It also recommended refocusing the agency on its security priorities, and frequent training sessions and audits for agents. The agency, finally, needs to assign security details based on risk assessments, and not only to protectees with certain titles, the review said.

Specifically, the panel recommended that the Secret Service:

• Require physically-integrated command centers to be set up at large events

• Require that lead agents at all event sites meet face-to-face with the leader of the protectee’s personal detail when the protectee arrives at all event locations

• Mandate the use of drones for overhead surveillance at all outdoor events

• Require agency personnel to disrupt any lines-of-sight at event locations that snipers could use to target a protectee

• Train personnel to identify and address threats preemptively

• Revise agency policies to clear up the chain of command at major events

• Better integrate local law enforcement agencies into the security infrastructure surrounding events

• Provide more training about extracting protectees from major events.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how Congress has demanded equal protection details for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.