Secret Service admits 'mission failure' in July Trump shooting

WASHINGTON ? The Secret Service acknowledged Friday communication “failures” and a lack of diligence by its agents when former President Donald Trump was shot during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“It is important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13 and we take the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another mission failure like this again," Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. told reporters at the agency’s headquarters.

“We cannot afford to fail,” Rowe said. “This was a failure on the part of the United States Secret Service.”

The lapses included multiple communications and operational failures, according to an internal interim report on how the agency performed leading up to and including the incident. These included deficient command and control, in addition to communications and diligence, the report said.

More: Armed suspect staked out Trump for 12 hours before Secret Service found him on golf course

The Secret Service is responsible for designing the security for a former president’s events, Rowe said, but the agency relied on local law enforcement to secure the building where the gunman was lying on the roof with a clear line of sight to the former president.

“We cannot abdicate or defer our responsibilities to others,” Rowe said.

The agency plans to significantly expand its security perimeter around its protectees, which will require more resources, he said.

The acting director said the agency would move toward accountability, suggesting disciplinary measures for some personnel.

Rowe declined to say how many staffers were being considered for punishment, or at what level of the organization they worked. “These employees will be held accountable and this agency has among the most robust stable of penalties in the entirety of the federal government,” Rowe said.

"I have not asked for anyone to retire," he added.

The Secret Service is under intense scrutiny after it allowed a young gunman to climb atop a nearby roof and fire off eight rounds at the July rally in western Pennsylvania. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, grazed Trump's ear, bloodying the former president, killed one attendee and injured two others before a Secret Service sniper shot him dead.

On Sunday, Ryan Wayne Routh, 58, was arrested after Secret Service agents opened fire on him at a Trump golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. Routh had allegedly built a sniper's nest on the tree-lined perimeter and was leveling a rifle at the green when he was spotted.

Investigators said he had apparently been lying in wait for Trump for 12 hours raising questions about how thoroughly the Secret Service had swept the location before Trump arrived.

“What occurred on Sunday demonstrates the threat environment in which the Secret Service operates is tremendous and under constant threat,” Rowe said. “We’ve been in this heightened, increasingly dynamic threat environment since July 13.”

The House voted unanimously Friday to have the Secret Service provide the same number of agents protect the presidential nominees for either major party as are provided for the president and vice president. Rep. Mike Lawyer, R-N.Y., said he introduced the bill after Trump's shooting with Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., “because we both recognized that in America, elections should be determined at the ballot box and not by an assassin’s bullet.”

The bill now heads to the Senate.

“The threat is not waning,” Rowe said. “The threat is not going to evaporate any time soon.”

Rowe said Secret Service deployed the same tactical assets such a sniper teams and security for party nominees as it does for the president and vice president.

“We’ve been doing that since July 13," he said.

Rowe said despite the increasing demands, the agency wouldn’t drop standards in hiring. More than 400 special agents were hired this year with applications at an all-time high, he said.

“We’ve turned the corner,” Rowe said.

Rowe declined to comment about protecting Trump for his expected attendance at Saturday’s college football game of Alabama against Georgia.

“Each event is complex,” he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Secret Service chief admits 'failures' in July Trump shooting