Information about generations of Secret Service problems is gaining people traction as Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle prepares to speak on the security breaches at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
” Americans demand solutions, but they have not been getting them from the Secret Service. Instead of getting updates on the latest information from spills and whistleblowers about the assassination attempt every day. Americans demand accountability, but no one has yet to be fired for this historic failure”, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer ( R., Ky. ) said in his opening statement Monday morning.
Many leaders have directly demanded that President Joe Biden resign or be fired from the United States Secret Service ( USSS) as a result of the Congressional hearing.
The Daily Mail reports on censure emanating from a 2015 House Oversight Committee statement that painted a grim picture of the agency, describing it as “in crisis” with” widespread mismanagement”, serious underfunding, an “extraordinarily inadequate hiring process”, and common lack of confidence among employees in their leadership. The 200-page statement, authored by Tristan Leavitt, a former top Oversight worker who now leads the journalist business Empower Oversight, noted various security failures under the USSS’s watch.
Leavitt, reflecting on the recent Trump shooting incident, remarked to Daily Mail.com,” Almost a decade later, it looks like the Secret Service is suffering from some of the exact same problems it did 10 years ago”. He urged that Director Cheatle be replaced by an outsider capable of radically overhauling the organization and stressed the need for leadership change.
One of the major points of concern raised by Leavitt was the handling of security at Trump’s recent rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Reports show that local police counter-sniper teams were given the job of delegating crucial security tasks rather than the well-established Secret Service units. Additionally, there were apparent communication lapses between local police and the Secret Service.
Leavitt’s 2015 report cited earlier egregious security breaches, including a 2014 incident where then-President Barack Obama was permitted inside an elevator with an armed guard who had a criminal history, including shooting at a fleeing car with a child inside. A veteran with PTSD who jumped the White House fence and made it into the executive mansion’s East Room was the subject of another incident from the same year before being subdued by security.
These past errors led to the resignation of Julia Pierson, the then-Secret Service director, and Leavitt’s report revealed that the organization was experiencing a staffing crisis, which was made worse by an ineffective hiring process and low morale among overworked staff. According to the report, it was suggested that the Secret Service concentrate solely on pursuing its top priority of protecting top political figures by removing some of its additional responsibilities, such as those involving cyber and financial crime investigations.
In light of the recent assassination attempt, Cheatle’s explanation for the agency’s failure has been met with skepticism. She cited safety concerns in an interview with ABC News about choosing to secure the building from the inside rather than positioning agents on a sloped roof. Particularly given rumors from the nearby station WPXI that the gunman, Thomas Crooks, had been spotted and photographed by snipers 30 minutes before he fired, this explanation failed to dampen criticism. Whether or not these details were properly relayed to the Secret Service agents on the ground was a mystery.
Since then, President Joe Biden has demanded an in-depth analysis of all security measures at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and an independent investigation of Trump’s rally. Additionally, a bill that would increase protection for all presidential candidates, including independent nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is receiving bipartisan support in Congress.
