One year ago, then-former President Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The tragic event, which resulted in the death of a rallygoer, Corey Comperatore, transformed the 2024 presidential race. In Butler, there is still little in the way of answers. This Washington Examiner series will look at where things stand one year on, Secret Service reforms, and the rise in political violence in the United States. This fourth installment looks at what progress has been made on protecting presidents.
The Secret Service has made progress implementing the dozens of reforms that House and Senate lawmakers have recommended in the year since an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump, but more than half of the congressionally recommended changes remain incomplete.
In the year since a gunman attempted to fatally shoot Trump during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, lawmakers have examined how the attack was allowed to occur and ways to firm up protection of certain government officials.
In an interview over the weekend, Trump did not directly address the dozens of reforms lawmakers had imposed on the Secret Service. However, he did say to Fox News that he has “great confidence” in the Secret Service and excused the 2024 incident as agents having had a “bad day.”
The federal law enforcement agency has also affirmed the seriousness of the safety concerns in the lead-up to the first anniversary.
“The reforms made over this last year are just the beginning, and the agency will continue to assess its operations, review recommendations, and make additional changes as needed,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
Blowback mounts
Just days before the anniversary, the Secret Service finally announced that six officials had been suspended for 10 to 42 days each, without pay or benefits, for how they handled security that day.
However, the actions that the Secret Service has taken to date have not satisfied everyone, including the family of Corey Comperatore, a husband and father who was killed by a stray bullet at the rally.
Kelly Comperatore Meeder divulged last week that her family was “furious” with the lack of answers and responsibility that the agency has shown since her brother’s death. Two other rally attendees were injured in the incident.
“If suspending six people and us finding this out now is their idea of accountability, it is not. It is not. We need names,” Comperatore Meeder said in an interview with CBS News last week. “They have my brother’s blood on their hands, and they are able to return to work and go back to living their lives. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. Our family is furious.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) stated in a floor speech that the Secret Service still has a ways to go.
“While the [Government Accountability Office] report says the Secret Service has made changes to correct some of these problems, they still have more work to do,” Grassley said in a floor speech Monday.
Calls for change
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee made nine recommendations for the Secret Service to put into action, while the House Task Force Report recommended 36 actions.
Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul said his findings and recommendations exposed the “bureaucratic incompetence that nearly cost President Trump his life.”
“Now it’s time to hold those accountable to ensure something like this never happens again,” Paul said in a statement.
As of the first anniversary, 20 of the 46 requested changes have been implemented, making the federal agency compliant with less than 50% of the reforms.
Seventeen other changes are in progress, and nine are being carried out by Congress.
Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent and criminal investigator at the Department of Homeland Security, explained that determining whether the agency had done enough to improve is hard to conclude.
“I’m a former investigator. Details matter. If you’re only getting half the details, it’s hard to say,” Cangelosi said in a phone call about the six suspended employees, one of numerous points that the agency has not been frank about with the public.
Reforms put into place
As part of the Senate panel’s instructions, the Secret Service revised its Protective Operations Manual to improve coordination and clarify the responsibilities of federal, state, and local police; updated policies to require the review of local security plans ahead of time; planned to deploy more assets to future outdoor events; and intended to inform agents of threats to the individual under protection.
The agency implemented the House task force’s calls to consolidate all operations plans; consider coverage inside and outside the secure perimeter; use counter-surveillance assets at all large outdoor events; and streamline communications ahead of travel with teams at headquarters, the detailed agents, and the field office.
The Secret Service has also devised a communications plan to ensure that all local and state police will hold a single, unified briefing on the day of the event, conduct pre-event meetings for key stakeholders daily leading up to an event, and have a specific person who is the lead for every event.
In-progress or unaddressed actions
Some actions are still in progress, including reviewing protocols for sweeping golf courses, examining the agency’s staff, budget, and retention levels, providing more robust training for non-Secret Service federal personnel on-site, increasing K-9 sweeps at events, and implementing more armored vehicle use at golf courses.
Retired Secret Service supervisory agent Bobby McDonald told the Washington Examiner that the agency has moved forward with changes.
“They will need to continue to evaluate and re-evaluate their policies and need to make sure that the supervision of its agents out doing advance work is robust and allows for adequate security plans to be put into place,” McDonald, a criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, wrote in an email. “They will need to continue to work on communication and need to make sure that complacency when it comes to protective advances is nowhere to be found.”
A number of recommendations were not completed, sometimes because lawmakers, not the federal agency, have the authority to do so.
For example, Congress could require that the Secret Service record its radio transmission at all events; expand legal authorities to take down enemy drones, and reduce the number of people who require protection.
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In addition, no action has been taken on the Senate’s recommendation that officials evaluate whether the Secret Service should remain inside the DHS.
The DHS did not respond to a request for comment on how DHS Secretary Kristi Noem views the agency’s progress implementing reforms.