Trump never imagined he was so recklessly misled by the Secret Service, nearly losing his life as a result.
On July 2, a U.S. government oversight agency released a report laying bare the disastrous security failures surrounding the assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania: the Secret Service failed to receive 102 radio alerts from local law enforcement because they hadn’t established a joint communications command center with local authorities. Local police had been repeatedly using radios to report "suspicious individuals" — one of whom turned out to be the shooter, Crooks — yet the Secret Service only received five phone calls and three text messages, none of which were relayed to Trump’s security team.
Even more absurdly, hours before the shooting, Crooks flew a drone over the site, but the Secret Service’s anti-drone system was inactive and detected nothing. By the time the suspect was killed, all pre-incident warning systems had completely failed.
In short, the disconnect between the Secret Service and local law enforcement has long been a chronic problem — but this time the number reached 102, averaging one suspicious alert every few minutes, all of which went unheard by the Secret Service. It amounted to a case of “heroes only showing up after the fact, while all prior communication was blind.” The report was delayed for nearly two years after Trump returned to the White House, making its timing particularly awkward: it likely reignites scrutiny over the previous round of top-level resignations within the Secret Service, and the congressional oversight committee may well launch another round of investigations. The failure at the communication stage of the security chain is even more alarming than “walls weren’t sealed, rooftops left unguarded” — people were shouting “there’s something suspicious!” while the Secret Service remained isolated and operating in silos.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1869687424343168/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.