7-31-2024 (Updated 8-3-2024)
On the Congressional Hearing on July 13th
I watched the grilling of the acting head of the secret service and the director of the FBI. The focus of these bipartisan, by chamber committees was find the breakdown on that fateful day in Butler, Pennsylvania and pin the colossal failure to specific person(s) and hold them accountable so this failure never happen again. One congressman openly stated that nobody is held accountable until heads roll and someone’s fired.
I agree and 21 days after the event still nobody has lost their job, although after multiple excuses and avoidance to direct questioning it took extreme pressure for the SS chief to finally resign and an acting chief to be appointed.
It has come down to a he said/she said scenario where local law enforcement said they have yet to be in discussion with the SS, while the SS continues to say local law enforcement were working on a person of interest but never communicated to SS there was a man with a gun. A video taken from the gallery by one of the casualties of the shooting clearly shows the shooter maneuvering for a better angle, while invisible to site security has me wondering?
Evidence has come out that at least 90 minutes earlier local law enforcement identified a suspicious man with a backpack, using a range finder and sending that info to the command center for SS to direct or take action. Nobody understands why President Trump was not kept off stage until the incident had been taken care of and the “all clear” sign had been given by SS.
It was clear during the hearing that the acting SS chief was reluctant (not going to do it) at naming the actual site team leader and/or others with responsibility/authority to make those critical decisions, but didn’t citing review of protocol and/or SS policies. He spoke of the guilt/shame being felt by personnel of the field office responsible, but the fact that nobody stood up and said, “I’m at fault”! That simply isn’t good enough when dealing with high profile protective details that include the sitting and former presidents, their families and other government officials.
It is time to revamp those SS policies and protocols as well as hiring practices, expectations, training and continued professional development. I surmise that low morale within the SS contributed to the compounding errors and lack of responsibility ownership within the hierarchy of the secret service. I don’t espouse reinventing the wheel, but moving select and experienced agents into the leadership/administrative positions to insure that change, real change occurs BEFORE this situation rears its ugly head one more time.
Since the hearing reporting shows that no SS site threat assessment was conducted before the Butler rally at the order of the now acting Chief. If true, problems from within continue unless a change in leadership as well as upper management are needed.
SS motto is “Worthy of Trust & Confidence” – but are they really? – RTM
The Real Truckmaster 