Secret Service ‘complacency’ led to security breach, says deputy director – The Irish Times

The US secret service had a problem with “complacency” and was responsible for numerous security failures that preceded the shooting of Donald Trump by an assassin during an election rally in Pennsylvania, the agency’s acting director said on Friday.

Communication problems with local law enforcement and a “lack of diligence” hampered the Secret Service’s work in the run-up to the assassination attempt on the former US president in July, according to a new report that lists a series of missed opportunities to stop a gunman who opened fire from an unsecured rooftop.

In addition, Ronald Rowe Jr., the deputy director of the Secret Service, said at a press conference on Friday that there was “carelessness among some agents … which resulted in a breach of security protocols.”

Mr Trump was injured when a bullet whizzed into his ear after the gunman opened fire at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. One man in the crowd was killed as he ran for safety to protect his family, and others in the crowd were injured.

Agents provided protection to Mr. Trump while agency snipers killed the gunman.

Rowe said this is a turning point in the history of the Secret Service and requires a paradigm shift in the work of the overburdened agency.

Another potential crisis was averted last Sunday when a man was apparently seen pointing a rifle through the fence while Trump was playing at his Florida golf course near his home. An agent shot the man, who fled but was later arrested after a chase.

A five-page document summarizing the main conclusions of the Secret Service report was released on Friday, criticizing local and federal law enforcement agencies for preparing for and conducting the July rally.

Although the failed response was documented through congressional testimony, media investigations, and other public statements, the report was the Secret Service’s most formal attempt to catalog the day’s mistakes.

“It is important that we hold ourselves accountable for the mistakes of July 13 and use the lessons learned to ensure that a mission failure like this does not happen again,” Rowe said in a statement releasing the report on the agency’s internal investigation.

This makes it clear that the agency knew before the shooting that the rally site posed a security risk.

Among the problems was that some local police officers on site were unaware of the existence of two communications centers on the premises, and therefore officers were unaware that the Secret Service was not receiving their radio transmissions.

Police also transmitted vital information outside of Secret Service radio frequencies, complicating the search for the shooter after reports came in of a man on a roof within sight of the rally stage.

The report’s summary does not name any specific people who may be to blame, although the Associated Press previously reported that at least five agents were transferred to altered duties. The director at the time, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned. – Guardian, AP