An independent panel investigating the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, said Thursday that the Secret Service “requires fundamental reform” and “another Butler can and will happen again” if changes in candidate protection aren’t made.
The Independent Review Panel’s Oct. 17 report was conducted and signed by former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Mark Filip, former Superintendent of the Maryland State Police David Mitchell, former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and former Homeland Security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend.
According to the panel’s report, President Joe Biden directed Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to “form an independent, bipartisan panel” to get to the bottom of what happened. On July 21, eight days after the Butler attack on Trump, Mayorkas introduced a “45-Day Independent Review” panel.
The report states that “The work of the Independent Review Panel 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,” adding that “the Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission.”
With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, and at least one other credible assassination attempt on the former president being foiled, Trump’s security has been a major issue in this election cycle. In September, Congress passed the “Enhanced Presidential Security Act of 2024” (H.R. 9106), which Biden signed into law on Oct 1.
This bill “requires the U.S. Secret Service to apply the same standards for determining the number of agents required to protect Presidents, Vice Presidents, and major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates.”
Thursday’s report seeks to raise awareness nationwide of the real problems of the law enforcement agency tasked with protecting the president, while also identifying its institutional failure to live up to its aspirations of excellence.
“The United States Secret Service aspires to be the best protective service of high-ranking government officials in the world,” the report reads, but it “does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission.”
“The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved,” it adds.
In response to the report, Mayorkas said in a statement that the panel’s members are “highly accomplished individuals with extensive security and law enforcement backgrounds, and the U.S. Secret Service’s protection mission will benefit greatly from their recommendations.”
“We will fully consider the Panel’s recommendations and are taking the actions needed to advance the Secret Service’s protection mission,” he added.