Scathing Homeland Security report says Secret Service lacks ‘critical thinking’ and needs massive reforms

Elite outfit has been under heavy scrutiny as Donald Trump has faced three potential assassination threats

The Secret Service has a “corrosive” culture and a “troubling lack of critical thinking,” which contributed to recent security threats and assassination attempts against Donald Trump, a scathing report for the Department of Homeland Security found.

The findings, from a panel of security and law enforcement officials, recommended Thursday that the elite protective agency clean house and replace senior leadership with officials from the outside.

The report highlighted a number of alleged failings that led to security threats against Trump, including the failed assassination attempt against the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

Deficiencies ranged from “numerous communications issues,” to failing to consider the unique risks that come with protecting someone like Trump, “who generates strong emotions in many people, including supporters and detractors.”

“Under those circumstances, the Secret Service should have recognized that the sort of enhanced assets and measures employed since the Butler shooting should have been adopted before the incident, which could have mitigated the resultant loss of life, injuries, and near-fatal shooting of former President Trump,” the report found.

Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. A new report says the Secret Service lacks “critical thinking” (AFP via Getty Images)

The experts took particular issue with the sluggish response time after Butler gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted behaving suspiciously outside the rally, pointing to “the failure of anyone from the Secret Service or law enforcement to encounter Crooks, despite his being first spotted at approximately 4:26 p.m., more than ninety minutes before he began shooting at former President Trump and the assembled crowd.”

The panel also pointed to “corrosive cultural attitudes regarding resourcing and ‘doing more with less’” and a “lack of training facilities and commitment of time to training on the Secret Service’s core protection mission, particularly when compared to other elite ‘no fail’ government units such as exist in federal law enforcement and the United States military.”

The Department of Homeland Security, the parent branch of the Secret Service, said it was taking the panel’s findings to heart.

“These actions will be responsive not only to the security failures that led to the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt but, importantly, to what the independent review panel describes as systemic and foundational issues that underlie those failures,” Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

The findings, from a panel of security and law enforcement officials, recommended Thursday that the elite protective agency clean house and replace senior leadership with officials from the outside (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A separate internal review by the Secret Service reportedly pointed to similar failings, including the Secret Service’s radio room having no way to get real-time alerts from local police at the Pennsylvania rally.

In the wake of the Butler attack, and subsequent threats to Trump in Florida and California, the Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny.

In July, Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned, after facing a grilling in Congress.

The security around the presidential nominees is again under the microscope, after police caught a man with multiple guns outside a Trump rally in Coachella Valley, California.

The individual, Vem Miller, subsequently insisted he’s a Trump supporter who didn’t intend to harm anyone.