Communication breakdowns with local law enforcement hampered the Secret Service's performance ahead of a July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, according to a new report that lays out a litany of missed opportunities to stop a gunman who opened fire from an unsecured roof.
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00:00So in today's hyperdynamic threat environment, the mission of the Secret Service is clear.
00:05We cannot afford to fail. After reviewing the planning, event details, and coordination with
00:11partner agencies regarding the attempted assassination of former President Donald
00:16Trump on July 13th, our mission assurance review is nearing its completion. As I've said,
00:23this was a failure on the part of the United States Secret Service.
00:26It's important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13th,
00:32and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this
00:37again. Advanced team personnel have an obligation to ensure that each site
00:42meets the protective requirements and principles of Secret Service methodologies.
00:48The Secret Service did not give clear guidance or direction to our local law enforcement partners.
00:55There were communication deficiencies between law enforcement personnel at the site. For example,
01:00the Secret Service did not co-locate its security room with local law enforcement.
01:06There was an over-reliance on mobile devices, resulting in information being siloed. We're at
01:12a pivotal moment in the history of the Secret Service, and at a pivotal moment in the history
01:17of our country, and I've directed that the Secret Service embark on a significant paradigm shift
01:23that will redefine how we conduct protective operations. What occurred on Sunday demonstrates
01:29that the threat environment in which the Secret Service operates is tremendous and under constant
01:35threat, and we've been in this heightened and increasingly dynamic threat environment
01:41since July 13th. The paradigm shift will be a driving force to move the Secret Service
01:46from a state of reaction to a state of readiness, and the vision is for the Secret Service to be
01:51more agile, with the ability to escalate protection to the highest levels for numerous
01:56protectees for undetermined periods of time. This cannot be about working our people harder.
02:03So with respect to changes, the workforce, the American public, they can expect changes in our
02:10processes for advances. There will be an increased use of technology, not only to assist in communications
02:17but also situational awareness when we're doing our protective mission. We are burning through a
02:22lot of assets and resources, and that's the argument that we've been trying to show. This
02:26isn't some pie in the sky trying to say, hey, we want this now. We are not capitalizing
02:32on a crisis. We are showing the math. We have finite resources, and we are stretching those
02:38resources to their maximum right now, which is going to require us to replace these assets.
02:43It's going to require us to also adjust to look at this and evaluate that if we have to do this
02:50again or do it because of some other situation that we have no other control of,
02:55we have to be able to sustain that for an indefinite period of time. And so I am hopeful,
03:00and I am certainly engaged in these discussions, and I feel like at the end,
03:06we will get there because we have no other choice.