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    Secret Service plagued by ‘complacent’ culture, committee investigating first Trump assassination attempt says

    Mars Posted on

    Top line

    An independent panel investigating the Secret Service’s failures during the first assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump found that the agency had 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 resources declining in other tasks, including investigative work, according to the 52-page document. report.

    Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas named a group of four national security experts to lead the review: former Department of Homeland Security secretary under former President Barack Obama, Janet Napolitano; Frances Townsend, homeland security adviser under former President George W. Bush; David Mitchell, former law enforcement official in Maryland and Delaware; and former deputy attorney general and former federal judge under Bush, Mark Filip.

    The report highlights specific failures within Trump’s office — not just the agency as a whole — that allowed shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire multiple bullets from a nearby building outside Trump’s rally on July 13. July in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump with a bullet to the body. ear, killing one bystander and injuring two others.

    The site agent responsible for coordinating protective services with local law enforcement was inexperienced and had only graduated from the agency’s academy in 2020, the study found.

    Another officer assigned to operate a drone detection system on the day of the rally had only used the drone at three previous events after receiving informal training and struggled to resolve technical issues for hours on the day of the gathering, which rendered the drone unusable during the event, the panel found.

    The panel also criticized officers who escorted Trump from the stage after he was shot for leaving the upper part of his body exposed, and recommended additional training for officers removing someone from a threat .

    Crucial quote

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

    Key context

    The report is the latest damning examination of Secret Service failures that contributed to the first assassination attempt against Trump, including an internal review in which the agency acknowledged communications and equipment failures. Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned following the incident and six agents, including the site coordinator who was assigned to Trump’s details as well as five others from the agency’s Pittsburgh field office, were placed on restricted duty in relation to the shooting. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also found multiple “predictable and avoidable” errors in planning and communications in an interim report released last month following interviews with security agents and forces. local authorities who admitted that the building where Crooks was located was not properly secured. The independent review panel echoed that conclusion, determining that the roof was overlooked due to a lack of “critical thinking” among officers and supervisors. The report released Thursday does not address the second assassination attempt against Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15. Mayorkas said in a statement that he was reviewing the panel’s findings and would take action to address the recommendations, particularly regarding what the panel “describes as systemic and fundamental problems that are causing these chess “.

    Further reading

    Secret Service report says these failures led to Trump’s assassination attempt in July (Forbes)

    Secret Service knew roof used by Trump shooter posed threat, but failed to properly secure it, scathing report finds (Forbes)

    Three snipers were inside the building where the Trump rally shooter was fired from, reports say (Forbes)

    Mars
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