A House task force is recommending the Secret Service update policies on chain of command, communications and coordination and improve its security technology to avoid another failure like the July 13 assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump.
The panel is also questioning whether the Secret Service, which has a dual mission of providing proactive operations and investigating financial crimes, can adequately continue both functions under the Department of Homeland Security.
The task force was charged with investigating both the July 13 and Sept. 15 assassination attempts on Mr. Trump, but focused more on the first, where shots were fired and a bullet grazed his ear, narrowly missing killing him at a campaign rally.
The panel finished its work Thursday, ahead of its Dec. 13 deadline. The task force held a hearing with Secret Service acting Director Ronald Rowe to discuss changes that have or will need to be made at the agency before voting unanimously to approve a final report on its investigation.
“Our work has underscored that there is bipartisan ground for working together to protect our democracy from threats of violence,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, Pennsylvania Republican and the task force’s chairman.
The report will be made public in the coming days after it undergoes a technical review, but task force members used the hearing to preview some of its contents related to the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Florida Democrat, read one of the recommendations: “Congress must consider whether the Secret Service investigative obligations can effectively coexist with its primary protective mission and whether the agency’s investigative functions should remain within the Department of Homeland Security.”
His personal conclusion is that it cannot, because DHS has become too big to function. Mr. Moskowitz cited his experience trying to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency when he served as the director of Florida’s equivalent agency and finding they could get little approved from DHS leadership.
“I’m going to be filing a bill the first day of next Congress to remove FEMA and Secret Service from Homeland Security and make them direct reports to the White House. I think the changes you want to make, you’ll be able to make them quicker if you’re not in Homeland,” he told Mr. Rowe.
Other task force members alluded to the report’s recommendations in their questioning of Mr. Rowe.
Rep. Jason Crow, the task force’s ranking member, asked about the Secret Service’s culture, saying he was struck by the lack of a “see something, say something” mentality in which agents who noticed security gaps at the Butler site did not elevate them to leadership. For example, he said two of the Secret Service countersnipers were positioned on a roof where part of their view of the surrounding area was blocked by trees.
Mr. Rowe said the Secret Service has already developed a plan to address issues like that through training and regular auditing.
“We have to retrain our folks to say it’s OK to see something and say, ‘Wait a minute, why don’t we have that hallway covered?’” he said.
Rep. Madeleine Dean, Pennsylvania Democrat, asked Mr. Rowe who is ultimately in charge of ensuring there are no security vulnerabilities at events like the Butler rally.
Mr. Rowe said the current policy states that the team of Secret Service advanced agents are all responsible, reporting to the special agent in charge of the field office for the area where the event is being held.
“We are clarifying the policy about who is in charge,” he said, admitting it did not work as intended with the team in Butler.
Technology improvements were also a common theme.
Mr. Crow also asked whether the Secret Service is looking at using technology that exists in the Defense Department to operate a virtual command post that allows for a unified command, and shared communications of disparate front-line security officials across a single platform.
“It is just wild to me that in 2024 that our nation’s premier law enforcement agency on July 13 was using text messages and their personal cellphones, literally sending emails, in some cases, to deliver real time information and scribbling messages on paper and not using a system,” the Colorado Democrat said.
Mr. Rowe committed to implementing more advanced technology and said the Secret Service has already begun looking at a few different options, one of which is a Defense Department system.
Rep. David Joyce, Ohio Republican, also asked how to support the Secret Service in upgrading its technology.
Mr. Rowe said the agency has not had enough funding to devote to applied research, but his goal is to create an in-house unit to work on that, coordinating with other agencies like the Defense Advanced Research Projects agency.
He highlighted one example of defense technology the Secret Service has already deployed at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, an autonomous canine robot with a sensor “that’s out there walking the seawall right now.”
The hearing briefly went off the rails as Mr. Rowe engaged in a shouting match with Rep. Pat Fallon when the Texas Republican questioned why the acting Secret Service director positioned himself just behind President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at this year’s 9/11 remembrance event.
Mr. Fallon got Mr. Rowe to admit that the head of the executive’s protective detail is usually positioned closest to them for security, and accused him of endangering Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris with his positioning.
“You wanted to be visible, because you were auditioning for this job, which you’re not going to get,” Mr. Fallon said, referring to the permanent Secret Service director position.
Mr. Rowe accused Mr. Fallon of invoking 9/11 “for political purposes” and said he was at the remembrance event to show respect for a Secret Service member who died on 9/11. He also cited his personal experience going through the ashes at the World Trade Center in 2001.
After the hearing concluded and the task force moved to approve its report, its leaders spoke of their frustration that the investigation is incomplete because of lack of cooperation from the Department of Justice and the FBI.
“Shooter Thomas Crooks’ motives remain largely a mystery, despite repeated requests for information,” Mr. Kelly said. A sharpshooter killed Crooks.
The FBI did not share its analysis of Crooks’ online activity or notes or transcripts of interviews with his family and other associates, he said. That’s why the task force’s report includes a recommendation that Congress “should find means to clarify its right to obtain law enforcement sensitive information,” Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. Crow said the task force’s report is thorough and comprehensive, but the Justice Department and FBI withholding of information did not allow the panel to tell the full story on why the assassination attempt happened.
“If their intent was to slow walk us beyond the [expiration] of this committee, they are sorely mistaken because you have members on this task force that sit on committees of jurisdiction that will be coming in next Congress that will still get that information,” he said. “America deserves to know what happened with Mr. Crooks, what his motivations were, who else he was talking to.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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