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Secret Service plagued by ‘complacent’ culture, panel examines results of first assassination attempt on Trump

Secret Service plagued by ‘complacent’ culture, panel examines results of first assassination attempt on Trump

Topline

An independent panel investigating intelligence failures in the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump concluded that the agency had become “bureaucratic, complacent and static” in a scathing review of the incident released Thursday.

Important facts

The Secret Service needs “fundamental reform,” including new leadership from outside the agency and a renewed focus on its protective services, which have suffered as the agency has invested its dwindling resources in other tasks, including investigative work, the 52nd report said -page document report.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed a panel of four national security experts to conduct the review: Janet Napolitano, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama; Frances Townsend, homeland security adviser under former President George W. Bush; former Maryland and Delaware state police officer David Mitchell; and former deputy attorney general and former federal judge under Bush, Mark Filip.

The report points to specific failures by Trump’s staff – not just the agency as a whole – that allowed gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire multiple shots from a nearby building outside Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania Hitting Trump in the ear with a bullet, killing one bystander and wounding two others.

The site agent, who is tasked with coordinating protective services with local law enforcement, was inexperienced and had only graduated from the agency academy in 2020, according to the agency.

Another agent tasked with operating a drone detection system on the day of the rally had only operated the drone at three previous events after receiving informal training and struggled for hours on the day of the rally to resolve technical problems, which resulted in the drone being inoperable during the event, the panel found.

The panel also criticized the agents who escorted Trump off the stage after he was shot for leaving his torso exposed and recommended additional training for agents who remove someone from a threat.

Crucial quote

“The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent and static,” the panel wrote, adding: “Many of the problems the panel identified in this report…” . . are ultimately directly or indirectly attributable to the culture of the service

Important background

The report is the latest damning analysis of intelligence failures that contributed to the first Trump assassination attempt, including an internal review in which the agency acknowledged communications and equipment failures. Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the incident and six agents, including the site coordinator assigned to Trump’s command and five others from the agency’s Pittsburgh field office, were placed on restricted duty in connection with the shooting. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also found several “foreseeable, avoidable” failures in planning and communications in an interim report released last month after interviews with agents and local law enforcement admitted that the building where Crooks was housed , was not properly secured. The independent review panel confirmed the finding, finding the roof was overlooked due to a lack of “critical thinking” among agents and supervisors. The report released Thursday did not address the second assassination attempt against Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15. Mayorkas said in a statement that he was reviewing the panel’s findings and would take steps to specifically address the recommendations regarding what the panel “describes as the systemic and fundamental problems underlying these failures.”

Further reading

According to the intelligence report, these mistakes led to the assassination attempt on Trump in July (Forbes)

Secret Service Knew Roof Used by Trump Assassin Was a Threat – But Failed to Secure It Properly, Says Damning Report (Forbes)

There were reportedly three snipers in the building where Trump rally gunman fired (Forbes)