The reputation of the United States Secret Service (USSS) has taken some serious hits in recent weeks, not least of which was due to the attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump, which led to the resignation-in-disgrace of USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle.
On Wednesday, the acting Secret Service Director, Ronald Rowe, addressed that agency about recent events, and how it needs to change to better carry out its mission. RealClearPolitics National Political Correspondent Susan Crabtree has summarized that conversation in an X thread on a prolonged threat:
🚨🚨BREAKING: Secret Service Dir. Rowe is addressing the whole agency right now in a conference call and is pressing for a complete “paradigm” overhaul and is advocating for major budget increases.
Says the idea/mindset that we’re going to ask you to do more for less is over.…
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 14, 2024
There are a few interesting tidbits from that conversation.
Says the idea/mindset that we’re going to ask you to do more for less is over. “We can no longer operate with that mindset.” “We can no longer wear our people down.” “We have to win the day every day…. We have to be in state of readiness to be able to meet environment.”
That’s a fair point, since obviously, their current mindset isn’t getting the job done, at least not adequately. But that last comment is interesting; while it’s somewhat vague, it does appear to acknowledge the one great truth about the USSS’s mission of providing security to high-profile individuals; would-be assassins can fail 99 percent of the time, while the one percent success is catastrophic; the USSS cannot afford to fail, even once. In July, a would-be assassin came within a literal whisker of proving that true.
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But what does Director Rowe propose to do?
Other important bullet points from Secret Service Dir. Rowe’s all-hands speech:
–Said others had control of our budget (prob. a reference to Congress) and “we didn’t have much control of it, but we have control now.”
–Says USSS has “tremendous support from the Secretary…
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 14, 2024
That’s not the worst idea; too many problems with large bureaucracies are that the people doing the job are told by other people what they can have to do their jobs. In agencies like the Secret Service – or the military – it should be up to the people in the field to determine what they need to do their jobs, and the bean counters’ only role should be figuring out how to get that into the budget. Shooters should determine what they need to be shooters, with the priority for funding always being the people at the tip of the spear.
Rowe promised to increase hiring and to provide better training.
“We also have to strengthen our training infrastructure, because in order to be able to have the best protection force in the world, to have the best protection facilities in the world.”
“And so these…
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 14, 2024
At this point, this is all talk. It remains to be seen how much of this proposal will be realized.
The Secret Service has a vital primary mission–that is providing security to high-profile, high-risk political figures and (in some cases) their family members. In recent weeks, the nation’s confidence in the USSS to do that job has taken some serious hits. The assassination attempt on former President Trump was the result of a series of errors that should never have happened; granted, hindsight is always 20-20, but something as painfully obvious as an uncovered rooftop within an easy rifle shot of the platform where a USSS principal was speaking, should never have happened.
There may be a new sheriff in town at the Secret Service. But it remains to be seen just how much tarnish will be scrubbed off that new sheriff’s badge.
