THE SECRET SERVICEThe Failure of the Secret Service
The Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, has resigned, and not a moment too soon. The multiple failures of the Secret Service at Butler, Pennsylvania were grotesque.
The Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, has resigned. Good riddance.
The multiple failures of the Secret Service at Butler, Pennsylvania were grotesque: A clumsy 20-year-old gunman was able to climb on a roof - just 400 feet from former President Trump - and fire off six shots, hitting him on the side of his head and killing a spectator.
The Publisher of this newspaper [North Shore Leader] handled several dozen public events for US presidential candidates over a 20 year period. That included dealing with the Secret Service, local police, campaign (and Texas Rangers) security, and campaign advance staff.
So how did the Secret Service screw-up ?
1) No securing “Line of Sight” (LOS) firing positions: The rooftop the gunman used was only 400 feet from the stage. The Secret Service “used to” block all LOS for 1000 feet. By putting potted plants, flags, and barriers in between - or posting Secret Service agents or local police on the LOS rooftops. Why did such obvious security gaps occur ?
2) No Bulletproof Kevlar Podium for Trump - unlike all the Kevlar podiums provided for Bush and McCain at similar events in 2000, 2004 and 2008. The podium was a rickety wooden telescope podium. No podium would have stopped a head shot - but would have stopped a body shot, and provided immediate better cover and protection from subsequent shooting.
3) Garbage Communications Coordination: Normally the Secret Service coordinates closely with Campaign Advance-Security and Local Police. By putting their people in strategic locations and having an outer loop secure communications channel with a designated Secret Service Agent. When the local cop in PA saw the gunman on the roof, there was no communications loop with the Secret Service to yell “Gun, gun, gun” on the radio, and get Trump pulled from the stage.
4) No Drones? The gunman had a drone - but the Secret Service didn’t use one. Was no one in the Secret Service watching over the site ?
5) Post-shooting incompetence - why did the Secret Service allow a bloodied Trump to stand-up and pose in front of the crowd seconds after an active shooting - with no assurance that there wasn’t a second shooter in the crowd ?
6) Why the National Guard Troops? - Minutes after the shooting, a troop of heavily armed National Guard Troops marched out in front of the stage. What were they doing there (except getting in the way ?). And why weren’t those troops deployed to guard the nearby cluster of buildings - which the gunman then used ?
7) Why did Kimberly Cheatle go to the Republican Convention? Two days after the assassination attempt, Cheatle, a Biden Democratic political appointee, paraded around the RNC with a half dozen Secret Service Agents as her “praetorian guard.” After claiming (falsely - with 8,500 Secret Service employees) that she “didn’t have the resources” to properly protect a former US President. Only to be confronted by several irate US Senators at the convention, for her brazen political chutzpah.
8) The Political Decision to Short Trump on Secret Service Protection; and Give Robert Kennedy no Secret Service Protection: What happened in PA is partly a consequence of a blatant political decision to short Trump and deny Kennedy (whose father and uncle were killed by assassins) proper protection. That sent a discouraging message to the SS agents who were deployed; and an encouragement to those wanting to commit harm. A horrible, petty, political - and ultimately lethal - decision.
This Editorial is published courtesy of the North Shore Leader. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Homeland Security Newswire.
