Secret Service Agents On Trump Detail During First Assassination Attempt Were Inexperienced, Report Finds
by Sara Dorn · ForbesTopline
An independent panel investigating Secret Service failures in the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump found the agency has become “bureaucratic, complacent and static” in a scathing review of the incident released Thursday.
Key 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, according to the 52-page report.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed the panel of four national security experts to conduct the review: former Department of Homeland Security secretary under former President Barack Obama, Janet Napolitano; homeland security adviser under former President George W. Bush, Frances Townsend; former Maryland and Delaware state law enforcement official, David Mitchell; and former deputy attorney general and former federal judge under Bush, Mark Filip.
The report points to specific failures among Trump’s detail—not just the agency as a whole—that allowed gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire several rounds from a nearby building outside Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., grazing Trump with a bullet in the ear, killing an audience member and wounding two others.
The site agent charged with coordinating protection services with local law enforcement was inexperienced and had only graduated from the agency academy in 2020, according to the review.
Another agent assigned to operate a drone detection system the day of the rally had only operated the drone at just three previous events after receiving informal training and struggled to resolve technical issues for hours on the day of the rally, leading the drone to be inoperable during the event, the panel found.
The panel also criticized the agents who escorted Trump from the stage after he was shot for leaving the upper part of his body exposed, and recommended additional training for agents removing someone from a threat.
Crucial Quote
“The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static,” the panel wrote, adding “Many of the issues that the Panel has identified throughout this report . . . are ultimately attributable, directly or indirectly, to the Service’s culture
Key Background
The report is the latest damning review of the Secret Service failures that contributed to the first assassination attempt against Trump, including an internal review in which the agency acknowledged communication and equipment breakdowns. Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the wake of the incident and six agents, including the site coordinator who was assigned to Trump’s detail plus five others from the agency’s Pittsburgh field office, have been placed on restricted duty in connection with the shooting. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also found multiple “foreseeable, preventable” lapses in planning and communication in an interim report released last month following interviews with agents and local law enforcement who admitted the building where Crooks was perched was not properly secured. The independent review panel echoed the finding, determining that 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 he is reviewing the panel’s findings and will take steps to address the recommendations, specifically regarding what the panel “describes as systemic and foundational issues that underlie those failures.”
Further Reading
Secret Service Report Says These Failures Led Up To Trump Assassination Attempt In July (Forbes)
Three Snipers Were Inside Building Trump Rally Shooter Fired From, Reports Say (Forbes)