Panel: Secret Service needs ‘fundamental reform’ after shooting at Trump rally | News, sports, jobs

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is carried off the stage on July 13 after a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — An independent panel investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania says the Secret Service needs major reform” and new leadership, and that ““Another Butler can and will happen again” without fundamentally changing the protection of candidates.

The review faulted the Secret Service for poor communications that day and for failing to secure the building where the gunman fired. More systemic problems at the agency were also identified, such as a lack of understanding of the unique risks Trump faces and a culture of action “more with less.”

The 52-page report released Thursday recommended introducing new, outside leadership and refocusing on the intelligence community’s protective mission.

“The secret service as an agency requires fundamental reform in order to be able to fulfill its mission.” The authors wrote a letter accompanying their report to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the Homeland Security Department, the Secret Service’s parent agency. “Without this reform, the Independent Review Board believes another Butler can and will happen again.”

One rally attendee was killed and two others injured when Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed to the roof of a nearby building and opened fire while Trump was speaking. The former president was injured in the ear before being chased off the stage by Secret Service agents. That shooting, along with another incident in Florida while Trump was golfing – a gunman there neither glanced at the president nor fired a shot – has led to a crisis of confidence in the agency.

The report, by a panel of four former federal and state law enforcement officials, is based on investigations by members of Congress, the agency’s own investigators and the Department of Homeland Security’s regulator.

The Secret Service said it would make changes.

“We have already significantly improved our preparedness as well as our operational and organizational communication and implemented increased protective measures for the former president and other persons protected.” the agency’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, said in a statement Thursday. The agency said it is studying how to retain staff, modernize technology and improve training, and is working with Congress to increase funding.

Mayorkas said in a statement that his department was taking action in response “the security deficiencies” at the rally and what the review panel “describes systemic and fundamental problems underlying these failures.”

A look at the report’s key findings and recommendations:

Poor communication, no plan for important buildings

The panel reiterated previous reports that focused on the failure to secure the building near the rally, which had a clear line to the location where Trump was speaking, and the numerous communications problems that hampered the ability of the Secret Service and local officials and state law enforcement agencies interfered with talking to each other.

The panel criticized the planning between the Secret Service and local law enforcement and said the Secret Service failed to ask what was being done to secure the building: “It is simply not enough to rely on the common understanding that ‘the locals have this area covered,’ and in fact this attitude has contributed to security failures at Butler.”

The review questioned why there were two separate command posts at the rally and found other communications problems, including the need to change the radio channel because radio traffic from agents protecting first lady Jill Biden at an event in Pittsburgh was overflowing ran the channels of agents who were there with Trump. In addition, the police forces on site used a “chaotic mix” from radio, cell phone, SMS and email. And it was unclear who was in supreme command that day.

Cultural problems within the agency

The report painted a picture of an agency struggling to think critically about how it accomplishes its mission, particularly when it comes to protecting Trump.

The panel said agency staff assumed they would actually have to do this “Achieve more with less.” The report said the additional security measures taken to protect Trump after the Butler shooting should have been put in place earlier.

“To be clear, the panel did not identify any nefarious or malicious intent behind this phenomenon, but rather an over-reliance on allocating staff based on categories (former, candidate, nominee) rather than an individual risk assessment.” the panel wrote.

The panel also noted that “back and forth” between the Trump security team and Secret Service headquarters over how many people would be needed to protect him.

The panel also accused some senior staff involved in the rally of what they described as “….” “Lack of personal responsibility.” In one example, the panel said a senior local official tasked with coordinating communications did not tour the rally site in advance and did not brief state police colleagues before the rally about how communications would be managed.

It cited the relative inexperience of two specific agents who played a security role at the July 13 rally. One of them was the on-site agent from Trump’s department, whose job it was to coordinate security planning for the rally with the field office in Pittsburgh. The panel said the agent graduated from the intelligence academy in 2020 and has only been on the Trump team since 2023. Before the Butler rally, the agent only did this “Minimal prior site work or site security planning.”

Another agent tasked with operating a drone detection system had only used the technology in two previous events.

What did the panel recommend?

The panel recommended new leadership, particularly from outside the agency, but the report did not say whether anyone should be fired.

Other recommendations included: having a unified command post at all major events; Overhead surveillance for all outdoor events; Security plans that determine how to mitigate site boundary concerns up to 1,000 meters and who is responsible for this; and more training on how to get protectees out of dangerous scenarios.

The panel said the agency needs to refocus on its nuclear protection mission, but expressed skepticism that the agency should continue the investigations it is currently conducting. While the Secret Service is known for protecting presidents and other dignitaries, it also investigates financial crimes.

“In the panel’s view, it is simply unacceptable for the service to focus less than primarily on its protection mission, particularly when that protection mission function is currently suboptimal.” says the report.

Panel members included Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama; Mark Filip, deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush; David Mitchell, who served in numerous state and local law enforcement roles in Maryland and Delaware; and Frances Fragos Townsend, Bush’s assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.

However, this is not the first time an independent review has found fault with the agency. After a man jumped the White House fence and evaded the Secret Service to run into the building, a panel a decade ago examined how the Secret Service protects the White House.

Some of the same changes were recommended.