Communication breakdowns with local law enforcement hampered the Secret Service’s work ahead of a July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, according to a new report that details a litany of missed opportunities to stop a gunman who opened fire from an unsecured rooftop.
A five-page document summarizing the key findings of the Secret Service report indicts local and federal law enforcement, highlighting the cascading and far-reaching failures that preceded the July 13 shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Trump was shot in the ear.
Although the failure of the response has been well documented through congressional testimony, media investigations and other public statements, the report released Friday marks the most formal attempt by the Secret Service to catalog the day’s mistakes. It comes amid renewed scrutiny following the arrest Sunday in Florida of a man who authorities said wanted to kill the Republican presidential candidate.
“It is important that we take responsibility for the failures of July 13 and use the lessons learned to ensure we do not find ourselves in a failed mission like this one,” acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said in a statement accompanying the release of the agency’s internal investigation report.
The report details a series of “communication failures” leading up to the shooting of Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper after firing eight bullets at Mr. Trump from the roof of a building less than 150 yards from where the candidate was speaking. It makes clear that the Secret Service knew even before the shooting that the rally site posed a security concern.
Among the problems: Some local police officers on the scene were unaware of the existence of two communications centers on the ground, meaning the officers were unaware that the Secret Service was not receiving their radio transmission.
Law enforcement also communicated vital information outside of Secret Service radio frequencies. As agents searched for Crooks before the shooting, details were transmitted “via mobile/cellular devices in a staggered or fragmented manner” instead of through the Secret Service network.
“The failure of personnel to radio the description of the assailant, or vital information received from local law enforcement regarding a suspicious individual on the roof of the AGR complex, to all federal personnel at the Butler site inhibited the collective awareness of all Secret Service personnel,” the report said.
This failure was particularly problematic for Donald Trump’s protection team, “who were not informed of the concentration of local and state law enforcement in the minutes before the attack on the location of the suspect subject.” Had they known, the report continues, they might have made the decision to relocate Mr. Trump while the search was underway.
The problem of lines of sight
The report raises more serious questions about why no law enforcement was stationed on the roof Crooks climbed onto before opening fire.
A local tactical team was stationed on the second floor of a building in the complex from which Crooks fired. Several law enforcement agencies questioned the effectiveness of the team’s position, “but there was no follow-up discussion” about changing it, the document said. And there was no discussion with the Secret Service about sending a team to the roof, even though local law enforcement snipers “were apparently not opposed to that location.”
The tactical team operating on the second floor of the building had no contact with the Secret Service prior to the rally. The report claims that the team was called in by a local police department to assist with the event, unbeknownst to the Secret Service. The Secret Service understood in advance that the rally location, chosen by the Republican’s team because it better accommodated the “large number of desired attendees,” presented a security challenge due to sight lines that could be exploited by a potential attacker. Yet, the report says, no security measures were taken on July 13 to address these concerns, and the Secret Service lacked detailed knowledge of what local law enforcement support would be in place.
The report’s summary does not identify specific people who might be to blame or say whether any staff members were disciplined, though The Associated Press previously reported that at least five Secret Service agents were placed on modified duty. Then-director Kimberly Cheatle resigned more than a week after the shooting, saying she took full responsibility for the failure.
The Secret Service investigation is one of several being conducted into the July 13 incident, including those by Congress and an oversight investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
Rowe said the July shooting and Sunday’s episode, in which Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested after Secret Service agents detected a rifle sticking out of shrubs bordering the West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course where Trump was playing, underscore the need for a paradigm shift in how the agency protects public servants.