Is Trump's attempted assassination a reckoning for the Secret Service?
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There is one element uniting both sides of the aisle following Donald Trump's attempted assassination on Saturday: anger toward the U.S. Secret Service. The incident, during which the former president was shot in the ear by a gunman perched on a balcony about 150 yards away during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has received widespread scrutiny for its alleged security failures.
President Joe Biden has directed the Secret Service to review all of its security measures and has ordered an independent review of the incident. But this incident is just the latest in a series of high-profile mishaps that have befallen the Secret Service in recent years, going back to prior administrations. What will happen within the Secret Service as a result of this assassination attempt?
What did the commentators say?
The assassination attempt was considered a massive security failure given that the Secret Service "has routinely surveyed and secured all structures near major national political events to prevent gunfire from reaching a president or anyone else under the agency's protection," Carol D. Leonnig, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Josh Dawsey said for The Washington Post. But now, questions remain as to whether the agency devoted enough resources to its protectee.
One of the biggest looming questions is whether the Secret Service "suffered a critical breakdown in communications with local police in Butler, Pennsylvania, who were assigned to secure the outer perimeter where the gunman positioned himself on the roof of a nearby building," said Leonnig, Stanley-Becker and Dawsey. This is especially prudent because Secret Service officials "relied on local police at the Trump rally to fill out significant parts of its typical array of specialized protective units — including its heavily armed counterassault team."
The Secret Service is typically assisted by local law enforcement when securing high-profile events. But there is "just no excuse for the Secret Service to be unable to provide sufficient resources to cover an open rooftop 100 yards away from the site," Bill Pickle, a former deputy assistant Secret Service director, said to The Wall Street Journal. There is "no way" the alleged gunman "should've got those shots off." Investigators will likely "want to assess how the Secret Service communicated with local law enforcement and used technology, including drones, to identify threats."
In all, five questions must guide the agency's oversight, said Juliette Kayyem for The Atlantic. Among these are why the gunman's position was outside the security perimeter, how the sniper threat was addressed, who said what to whom and why the agents appeared to move so slowly. Perhaps the biggest question, though, is determining what kind of agency the Secret Service wants to be. The agency was originally created to combat counterfeiting, and its mission is still "divided into protective services and financial investigations, in many cases involving cyber and banking crimes," said Kayyem. Perhaps the Secret Service "should indeed spin off its financial-investigation duties to another law-enforcement agency and focus solely on defending presidents, former presidents, and other important protectees."
What next?
The independent review launched by Biden is one of a whole slew of investigations currently getting underway. Additionally, some in Congress are trying to take legislative measures to beef up security. A bipartisan bill would provide "enhanced" Secret Service protection to Biden, Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It is "clear that more protection is needed for all major candidates for president," said the co-sponsors of the bill, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.).
The Secret Service is "working with all involved federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again," Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said in a statement. The agency has said it will "participate fully" with Biden's independent review and will also "work with the appropriate Congressional committees on any oversight action."
Key players from the Secret Service will likely be called to testify before Congress. No matter the outcome of any investigations, though, there will be a "massive realignment" at the agency, Joseph LaSorsa, a former Secret Service agent, said to Reuters. "This cannot happen."
