US Secret Service needs new leadership after attempt on Trump’s life, review finds

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The US Secret Service should change its leadership, a review into the “failures and breakdowns” that led to the attempted assassination in July of former president Donald Trump has found.

The 52-page report released on Thursday said the July attack at the Pennsylvania rally that left the Republican presidential candidate with a bloodied ear was caused by the Secret Service’s “troubling lack of critical thinking” and “cohesion” with other law enforcement bodies.

It also singled out failures by senior staff to “take necessary ownership regarding the security planning and execution”.

“The Secret Service must be the world’s leading governmental protective organisation,” concluded the bipartisan commission set up by US President Joe Biden in the wake of the assassination attempt. “The events at Butler on July 13 demonstrate that, currently, it is not.”

Ronald Rowe, acting director of the service, which is charged with protecting presidential candidates, said the agency “will carefully examine the report and recommendations”. He added it had already made improvements in its communications, as well as in liaising with other law enforcement agencies and other areas.

The report comes just 20 days before the 2024 presidential election, which has been rocked by plots to kill Trump.

The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny following the events in Butler, where a gunman shot at the ex-president and killed a spectator, as well as an apparent second assassination attempt last month that was foiled by agents in Florida.

The panel argued that “a failure of the magnitude” that happened in Pennsylvania warranted urgent leadership change, including at the highest level of the service.

“A refreshment of leadership, with new perspectives, will contribute to the Service’s resolution of . . . deeper concerns” tied to the agency’s culture, the report said.

The panel recommended that a new leadership team be recruited from outside the Secret Service and that the new direct be allowed to bring in a team of their choosing.

Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of homeland security, which is responsible for the Secret Service, said the agency would “fully consider” the panel’s recommendations, in a bid to address the shortcomings in July as well as what the report described “as systemic and foundational issues that underlie those failures”. 

The review found that no officers from the Secret Service or other law enforcement agencies in Butler had been “specifically tasked” with securing the building from which the gunman shot at Trump. 

It also pointed out that law enforcement officers first became aware of the shooter more than 90 minutes before he opened fire. He was also spotted using a rangefinder 40 minutes before the shooting began.

The panel said the Butler rally was “plagued” by a string of other failures, with communications staff for the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies operating from different locations. 

“The structural inadequacy of the communications set-up on July 13 is particularly glaring given the heavy presence of local law enforcement personnel staffing the event, none of whom had a direct line of radio communication with the Secret Service,” the report said.

The commission also criticised the Secret Service’s approach to resource allocation, best described in the informal mantra “do more with less” — which had “inevitable corrosive effects on protective decision-making over time”.