The U.S. Secret Service was always considered an elite agency. That was before scandals this century revealed a dysfunctional, bureaucratic mess that affected the agency's ability to carry out its primary mission of protecting the president.
Janet Napolitano and Frances Fragos Townsend were members of the Independent Review Panel that examined the failures of the Secret Service in Butler, Pa., last July and other issues affecting the ability of the agency to do its job.
"The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved," the panel wrote to DHS Secretary Mayorkas in October. The investigation "uncovered not only numerous mistakes that led to the events of July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, but also deeper, systemic issues that must be addressed with urgency."
Going through the report, I was struck by the number of recommendations to improve security. I wondered why these common-sense proposals needed a panel to tell these protection "experts" what they lacked.
The president can take the lead in addressing the issue. The U.S. Secret Service director is a critical position for the health of our democracy and its leaders. Our independent panel found that the service has become insular, demonstrating an insufficient appreciation for available technology and an often formulaic approach to its protective mission. New leadership with significant security experience is required.
Trump chose experienced Secret Service Agent Sean Curran as the new agency director. Curran protected Trump in Butler and has been with the Secret Service for 24 years.
He's got an enormous job ahead of him. He can start by bringing Secret Service communications into the 21st century.
Congress can also take several measures within the first few days of Mr. Trump’s term. It can require that the service achieve an integrated communications setup with its federal, state and local partners at all protective events to include real-time incident command management and tracking. It is unacceptable that our government’s protective team has worse communications equipment and coordinated setups than many professional sports organizations. The personnel in Butler on July 13 communicated with a chaotic mixture of radio, cellphone, text and email. Countersniper teams can’t be fumbling with phones when their eyes should be alert to threats.
The Secret Service is experiencing "mission creep." Initially known as "Treasury Agents," the agency's special agents were responsible for protecting the U.S. money supply in addition to its protection portfolio. As counterfeiting techniques advanced, they also took on the responsibility of investigating cyber crimes such as identity theft and ransomware attacks. The panel has recommended transferring these additional responsibilities to other agencies, allowing the Secret Service to focus exclusively on its protective mission.
From the Independent Review Panel recommendations:
The Panel notes that the Secret Service has a budget of $3.1 billion and approximately 3,200 special agents. Whatever else the Secret Service may do, its core, essential, and unique mission is to protect its protectees, including the president, vice president, and nominees for president in an election. No other federal law enforcement agency can discharge this duty. And the duty is a zero failure mission. All assets should be allocated to that mission before any other tasks—including law enforcement responsibility for financial frauds, for example, or perhaps law enforcement duties entirely—are undertaken. There is simply no excuse to need to “do more with less” concerning protection of national leaders.
Other recommendations are concerned with developing better leadership, "Evaluation of Methodology for Protectee Resourcing," and "Leadership Training, and Training with State and Local Partners."
As you might expect, very few of these recommendations are currently under consideration. Director Curran should implement some of these common-sense recommendations immediately where practicable.
