OPINION:
The July 13 attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania was a complete law enforcement failure, made more profound by the amateurism of the assailant. It revealed perhaps the biggest “secret” of the Secret Service: Our nation’s top executive protection agency is hindered by the same bureaucratic rot that has long infected our government — and threatens to destroy our freedom, one catastrophic failure after another.
Had the gunman been a mysterious traveler from two states away, cloaked in espionage and intrigue, we might believe that such a glaring error was the product of a conspiracy — culminating in the death of the sniper to hide his connection to said conspiracy.
Instead, we got a troubled young man strolling by the most elite security protection in the world, seemingly exclaiming, “Look at me, I am here to shoot the president!” In a tidal wave of negligence that can only be described as more ordinary than anyone would have hoped, this misfit nearly pulled off the crime of the century.
The assassination of a former president and current presidential candidate would not have been just an ordinary murder but rather a catastrophic political and economic disruption to the free world — simply unthinkable.
While some do not care to acknowledge it, Mr. Trump is no ordinary leader. Regardless of one’s political beliefs, there is no denying the impact this man has had on the United States, the world and history. Does that mean his life is of greater value than any other? By no means. But in a society that values providing the highest security standards to its nation’s leaders and understanding the historical implications, we should demand accountability.
The real secret behind the Secret Service, which hopefully will be a secret no longer, is that this once revered and elite agency has fallen into the same bureaucratic mudslide that is destroying our major institutions and weakening our nation one sickening event after another.
It should be no surprise that politics has compromised the Secret Service. Political correctness, diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and bureaucratic inefficiency plague our federal government, and even the most respected federal agencies are no longer immune.
How can we expect to secure our southern border from illegals, terrorists, sex traffickers and dangerous drugs when we can’t even secure our former and future president from an attacker who takes a range finder and his daddy’s rifle to a political rally to attempt an assassination from a sloped roof that was apparently too dangerous for the Secret Service’s snipers to secure?
None of this is to say that there are not selfless patriots serving in the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement institutions that should be commended for their service to our nation. Certainly, many of those associated with the event that unfolded in Pennsylvania deserve our respect and gratitude for carrying out the job duties.
But there is a greater beast at work among men. Political appointments and policy decisions have resulted in losing confidence that we can get this right. Suppose our security forces cannot stop a 20-year-old’s spur-of-the-moment assassination attempt. What hope do we have of foiling a well-devised plan to disrupt our government and create the economic upheaval and destabilization of power desired by our adversaries worldwide?
We cannot wait for a new administration to begin the corrections necessary to the Secret Service. We have a long and tumultuous campaign season ahead of us and far too many opportunities for would-be assassins to take advantage of the newfound knowledge that our elite unit has been compromised. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle should resign, but in the absence of her doing the right thing, President Biden must immediately fire his director to restore the integrity of the Secret Service as if his life depended on it.
Because it just might.
• Curtis Hill is a former Indiana attorney general and a Project 21 ambassador.
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