Harsh report says US Secret Service has ‘deep flaws’

A report says the US Secret Service has “deep flaws” that need to be urgently addressed, or more assassinations like the one at Donald Trump’s campaign rally will happen again.

An independent panel tasked with investigating the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, released its findings Thursday and said the organization had become “bureaucratic, complacent and static.” .

They called for a review of their leadership in the 52-page report and said “several specific failures and errors” facilitated the attack on the Republican presidential candidate. draw.

The Secret Service admitted its failure and the agency’s director resigned weeks after the shooting.

In a statement Thursday, acting director Ronald Rowe said the agency will carefully review the new report.

“We have significantly improved our readiness, communications and organization, and conducted enhanced protective operations for the former president,” he said.

But in an internal memo to agency staff, Acting Director Rowe said he had “reservations” about the recommendations, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

“I am extremely concerned about the unintended impact on agency morale,” he wrote.

In the independent report drafted by national and state law enforcement officials, the panel praised the agents who risked their lives to protect many of the country’s highest-ranking officials but noted some failures. failure of leadership and culture.

These included a “worrying lack of critical thinking” among staff and a reluctance to “speak up”.

The report said the agency’s problems were “systemic or cultural” and the agency called for “fundamental reform,” including the removal of some of the agency’s top leaders. as soon as possible”.

“Without that reform … another Butler can and will happen again,” the committee wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the organization.

President Joe Biden ordered a bipartisan review of the security agency after a gunman tried to assassinate Trump at his campaign rally by shooting from a nearby rooftop.

Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots into the protest, killing one man and leaving Trump with a bleeding ear. The Secret Service shot and killed Crooks.

On Thursday, the panel called for “requiring all outdoor events to be observed using overhead technology.”

Another gunman was spotted near the former president outside the Trump International Golf Course in Palm Beach, Florida in September.

Police arrested him after noticing the tip of a rifle poking through the bushes a few hundred yards from where Trump was on the golf course.