Inexperienced secret agent called toll-free number while flying drone for help

A preliminary report by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump takes a close look at newly revealed Secret Service failures in planning and executing security measures for the event that left one spectator dead, two others seriously injured and the Republican candidate struck in the ear.

One of the biggest mistakes is that an agent with no experience with drones called a toll-free hotline for help after a request for additional unmanned devices was denied, according to a preliminary summary of findings released Wednesday. He had received only one hour of informal training with the device, according to the committee.

“Several foreseeable and avoidable planning and operational errors by the USSS contributed to [Thomas] “The ability of the criminals to carry out the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump,” the preliminary report said, “included unclear roles and responsibilities, inadequate coordination with state and local law enforcement, lack of effective communications, and inoperable C-UAS systems, to name a few.”

“We have reviewed the interim report on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. We recognize the importance of our mission, and in this hyperdynamic threat environment, U.S. intelligence cannot fail. Many of the findings in the Senate report are consistent with the results of our mission assurance review and are critical to ensuring that the events of July 13 are never repeated,” U.S. intelligence chief Anthony Guglielmi responded on Wednesday.

According to testimony from agents in Trump’s special forces unit and the Pittsburgh field office, none of them were aware that 27 minutes before the shooting, the Secret Service security room and sniper team were notified that a suspicious person had been spotted near the AGR building using a rangefinder; the shooter eventually took up position on the roof of the building.

According to the Secret Service chief, important information was not passed on over the radio, which delayed the response to the potential rally attacker

Read more in the Fox News app

“Just before shots were fired, a USSS sniper saw local police officers running toward the AGR building with guns drawn, but he did not alert former President Trump’s security detail to get him off the stage,” the committee revealed in the 94-page report. “The USSS sniper told the committee that while the sight of police officers with guns drawn ‘raised’ the threat level, the thought of alerting someone to get Trump off the stage ‘did not cross his mind.’ [his] Spirit.'”

The use of Secret Service snipers at all was unique, according to the report. Their inclusion in the rally’s security plans came in response to “credible intelligence” about a potential threat. Normally, a candidate leaving office would not deploy a sniper team before his party’s nominating convention, and the RNC did not begin until two days after the shooting.

Local police authorities raised concerns ahead of the rally about the AGR building across the field, where Trump would take the stage a few days before the rally, but whose roof was not secured.

Trump assassination attempt: Whistleblowers claim they were “totally unprepared” to provide security

The vanguard of Trump’s special forces had also requested additional resources in advance, including more drone equipment and additional counter-attack agents to act as liaisons with local SWAT teams.

“These requests were rejected, sometimes without justification,” the committee found.

In addition, the agent in charge of the drone equipment available on site experienced technical issues that prevented him from flying the drone until Crooks flew his own near the rally site.

Report of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs identifies “significant failures”

• No clearly defined person responsible for planning and safety

• AGR building not “effectively covered”

• Ineffective communication, coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies

• Secret service rejected requests for additional assets in advance

• Trump’s appearance was not prevented, information about “suspicious person” was passed on

Leading Senate Democrat ‘angry’ over Biden-Harris administration’s ‘blockade’ after Trump assassination attempts

The report delves deeper into Deputy Director Ronald Rowe’s admission last week that communications lapses in the moments before the shooting delayed key information. Secret Service members apparently struggled with a series of technical problems with their radios, and the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office did not have a radio at all because he had given it to the lead advance agent of Trump’s task force.

Another major flaw criticized by the committee was the lack of a clear chain of command. Officials involved in intelligence gathering and planning the rally “denied personal responsibility for any planning or security deficiencies and denied blame,” the committee said.

Suspect in Trump assassination wrote chilling letter months before golf course plot

“I am not approving anything,” the senior advance agent was quoted as saying to the senators. “I am clearly only taking the information that they [the USSS site agent and USSS site counterpart] have made recommendations and compiled them with the other information that has been gathered by the other advance units. These all go to the field office and then to the Trump office, the nominations office, and then they go on to headquarters.”

The committee recommends better coordination and clearer leadership, including appointing a single person to approve security plans, effective communication between federal agents and their local counterparts, and additional intelligence and other resources.

According to the committee, local police forces stationed in the AGR building were not tasked with securing the roof but with protecting the crowd. Local snipers in the building could have seen the area of ​​the roof from which Crooks opened fire, but they would have had to go to another room without a clear view of the crowd.

In addition, local officers inside were designated as “snipers,” whose job it was to monitor the crowd from a hidden position to “counter snipers” by scanning possible vantage points for threats from attackers like Crooks, the committee said.

Guglielmi continued, “The U.S. Secret Service has made changes to our protective measures, including strengthening protections for our protected individuals and appropriately increasing our protective forces to ensure the highest level of security for those we protect. As Acting Director Ronald L. Rowe said during press conferences on September 16 and 20, former President Donald Trump is receiving the highest level of protection the U.S. Secret Service can provide, and we will continue to evaluate and adapt our specific protective measures and methods based on the location and situation. We are also carefully considering long-term solutions to challenges such as improving communication and interoperability with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure our coordinated protective efforts run smoothly.”

The July 13 attack on a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was the first of two assassination attempts on Trump over the summer. A sniper returned fire, killing 20-year-old suspect Matthew Thomas Crooks.

In the second attempt, suspect Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested on September 15 after a Secret Service agent observed someone pointing a rifle at the former president from the line of trees on the edge of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, as he played golf there.

Source of the original article: Assassination attempt on Trump: Inexperienced secret agent called toll-free number while flying drone and asked for help