Days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, lawmakers and watchdogs are working with the U.S. Secret Service on how a gunman could get onto a rooftop with an AR-15-style rifle. 400 feet Away from the former president, let alone shoot a weapon.
As more details emerge, it is clear that the Secret Service failed to do its job properly. “It was unacceptable,” the organization’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, said. told ABC NewsHe does not plan to resign.
Visitors, for example, saw the suspicious man on the roof and Reported him to the police Before shooting. And according to CBS News, there were three snipers assisting the Secret Service Actually placed inside the building That the shooter used at the rally. Although the Secret Service has argued that some of the blame lies with local law enforcement agencies, which it partnered with for the rally, the agency is Ultimately responsible for securing the incident.
The Secret Service fiasco over the weekend is not an isolated incident, but can be seen as the natural result of a scandal-plagued agency that has long been in need of reform. The Secret Service has been embroiled in controversy over the past decade, from The politicization of Trump from the organization Lack of transparency surrounding the January 6 uprisingwhen it Deleted text messages from its agents In the days leading up to the attack.
Several other high-profile incidents have seen the Secret Service caught flat-footed, such as in 2014, when an intruder with a knife jumped the White House fence and Walked in through the front door. The agency’s general culture has also received a lot of criticism, such as allegedly drunken agents A car crashed into the White House 2015 or when the agent had to be Repatriated from Colombia After hiring sex workers to protect then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
Perhaps most importantly, one of the agency’s main failings is a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to admit when mistakes are made. This is especially troubling given that the Secret Service is tasked with protecting the nation’s highest-ranking officials, all the time Political violence is on the rise. If incidents like the weekend assassination attempt are to be avoided in the future, the agency must change.
The Secret Service should be more transparent
In 2011, a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle fired multiple shots into the White House. Washington Post reporter Carol D. As reported by Leonig, who covered the Secret Service extensively, “didn’t conduct a damning inspection of the White House for evidence or damage.” In fact, it took days for the agency to realize that bullets had actually hit the White House — only after a housekeeper noticed broken glass — and to alert President Barack Obama about the shots.
This phenomenon illustrates how slow the organization can be in detecting or reporting security flaws. It also shows how unwilling he is to learn from his mistakes at times. “There was no, ‘Hey, let’s get everybody together and review what happened,'” said Jonathan Walkrow, a former Secret Service agent who served on Obama’s security detail. told CBS News in 2021 About the event.
That’s why the agency needs more regular oversight, which starts with being more publicly transparent about its failures.
Congress after Trump assassination attempt announcement It will hold a hearing with the Secret Service director on July 22. President Joe Biden also said he gave an order Independent review Understand what happened. These are good steps.
What is clear, however, is that the Secret Service needs more oversight in general, and not just after major operational failures.
One solution is for Congress to expand the Secret Service investigation beyond what happened at the Trump rally and make its findings public. How many close calls have actually occurred – should be answered in cases where luck played more of a role in safety than actual protocol. is there growing bond Between white supremacist groups and the Secret Service? The agency has fully resolved the issue Around its “frat boy” work culture? Is the Secret Service properly reviewing its own security procedures after incidents like the 2011 White House shooting?
“Time and time again, the Secret Service has chosen to cover up a problem rather than address it,” said Leonig, who wrote the book. Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service, told CBS News In 2021. “It’s a great organization … but it needs a housecleaning; It needs help.”
How the Secret Service Evolved
Most people think of the Secret Service as the agency that protects the president and other high-profile officials. But when it was established in 1865, the Secret Service was part of the Treasury Department and was tasked with detecting counterfeit and counterfeit currency. It wasn’t until 30 years later that it began providing unofficial protection to then-President Grover Cleveland. And after the assassination of President William McKinley, the Secret Service added the protection of presidents to its official duties.
The Secret Service still investigates financial crimes and fraud and provides protective details to presidents, their families, and other officials such as vice presidents or presidential candidates. But in 2003, after the September 11 attacks, the agency was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.
One of the most visible ways the agency has changed is how many more people it protects today than in the past. According to a 2021 report According to the National Academy of Public Administration, although the Secret Service declined to give exact numbers on how many people it protects, it shows that the number of trips by security guards has increased from just under 3,200 in 2010 to more than 4,000 in 2018. Partly because of Trump Designated Secret Service protection For his grown children, who often travel internationally, and for other staff in his administration.
The Secret Service can generally deny protection to people required by statute — such as the president and vice president — based on the security risk it assesses, but it often provides protection beyond what is required.
Where does the Secret Service go from here?
Transparency is the first step in a reformed Secret Service.
But what is already known about the agency shows there is plenty of room for improvement. John Koskinen, former commissioner of the IRS who worked on the 2021 NAPA Report The Secret Service’s workforce showed that the agency needed more personnel.
“The place was better if they had enough people, but they were chronically understaffed,” Koskinen said.
According to the report, employee turnover and lack of adequate recruitment resulted in a workforce that was under-experienced, overworked and stretched too thin. “The main finding was that employee satisfaction increased as staffing increased,” Koskinen said, meaning that more staffing would lead to less turnover as a result of burnout.
Koskinen believes Congress should focus on the lack of adequate staffing, especially given the expanding scope of the Secret Service’s mission. The number of people who defend it, for example, has increased, With Trump-like requests Just before he left office for Secret Service protection for his grown children and top officials.
But it’s unclear whether the security lapses at Trump’s rally had anything to do with staffing issues. Agency did Hire over 600 new employees In 2023, and the Secret Service recently did Strong security Former president before the incident. That’s all the more reason for Congress to expand its investigation beyond what went wrong at Trump’s rally to get a fuller picture of how big a problem staffing really is — before giving the agency more funding to pay if needed. properly directed.
One question Congress should be asking that can help address the needs of the Secret Service — from transparency to resources — is where the Department of Homeland Security should house it. Before the 9/11 attacks, the Secret Service was part of the Treasury Department. But since the move to Homeland Security in 2003, people have been asking questions Whether it gets enough scrutiny or accountabilityBlended into a huge bureaucracy More than 250,000 employee
“Are they given proper visibility in light of the importance of their work, or are they getting lost day by day in that huge organization?” Koskinen said.
Now, with the Secret Service under renewed scrutiny, Congress has an opportunity to review the agency’s transparency, personnel issues and the scope of its mission. And it may be time to rethink how agencies approach all three.
