The Secret Service is making changes in the wake of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, the agency’s new acting director announced on July 30.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said that he traveled to the site of the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president was shot by a man who fired from the roof of the nearby AGR building.
“What I saw made me ashamed,” Mr. Rowe told two U.S. Senate committees on Capitol Hill. “As a career law enforcement officer, and a twenty-five-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
He added, “To prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future, I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented.”
Mr. Rowe said he believed agents had plenty of time to plan for the rally and called what happened a “failure on multiple levels.”
In addition to former President Trump, three others were struck by bullets. One died.
Mr. Rowe assumed the director position after Kimberly Cheatle, the presidential appointee who was serving as director, stepped down a week after the former president was hit with a bullet.
Ms. Cheatle, in remarks before Congress before she resigned, said the assassination attempt represented the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure in decades.”
Lawmakers from both parties said the Secret Service should have secured the rooftop of the nearby building, or made sure other law enforcement officers secured the rooftop.
Snipers spotted Mr. Crooks 1 hour and 45 minutes before shots were fired, according to texts disclosed this week, but no officers detained the suspicious person, according to officials.
After Mr. Crooks fired the shots, he was taken out by a Secret Service sniper, officials have said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed Mr. Rowe to serve as acting director. Mr. Rowe has been part of the Secret Service for 24 years. He was previously the agency’s deputy director.
“I appreciate his willingness to lead the Secret Service at this incredibly challenging moment, as the agency works to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on July 13 and cooperate with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight,” Mr. Mayorkas said.
Mr. Rowe said that the Secret Service has implemented enhanced protective measures such as expanding the use of drones at sites since the rally shooting “to ensure the people and places we protect are safe.” He said the agency has strengthened protection for all individuals it protects, is conducting threat assessments for all the people, and has started protecting six new people, including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who was recently tapped to join former President Trump’s ticket, and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to whom officials had previously denied protection.
Mr. Rowe also said that officials are working to make sure the agency’s protection of the Democratic National Convention is strong and effective, following the protection of the Republican National Convention.
“I am immensely proud of the selfless dedication of our employees to the mission,“ he said. ”Every day, across the globe, the men and women [of the Secret Service] answer the call to protect our nation’s leaders and the standard is no fail for a reason.”
The acting director said that, depending on the results of an internal probe, some employees may be disciplined. That could include termination, he said.
The Secret Service is conducting an investigation. The U.S. House of Representatives is also investigating, as is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
Samantha Flom contributed to this report.
