Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe has vowed to fix the agency and restore trust after the assassination attempt on former President Trump, but acknowledged that facilitating communication with local law enforcement officials assisting at events will be extremely difficult.
Rowe answered reporters’ questions Friday about the numerous planning errors that allowed a gunman to fire a series of shots at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month that pierced Trump’s ear, wounded two others and killed one attendee.
Local police investigating the incident considered the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, to be a suspicious person, but Rowe reiterated that no such warnings were passed on to Secret Service counter-sniper units or to Trump’s personal information.
“The focus of this case is on what happened in the last 30 seconds before the gunman opened fire, and it’s clear to me that there was clearly radio communication going on over the local wireless network during that time that we didn’t know about,” Rowe said.
“Interoperability challenges are not easily solved. It’s not as simple as just finding the local frequencies of the agencies you’re working with and inputting them into your radio network. There are significant technical fixes required.”
Lowe made the remarks at his first news conference since taking over as head of the bureau, and also appeared before Congress on Monday where he was criticized by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for the bureau not providing regular updates to the public.
Rowe was tight-lipped in her statement to the House of Commons on Friday, again offering a more blunt assessment of the agency’s failures than her predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned last week after a disastrous administration.
He lamented the police’s failure to station personnel on the roof of the building where Crooks opened fire and vowed to use drones at future events.
“This is a Secret Service failure. The roof area should have been covered. We should have had better monitoring,” he said, adding that he was also under investigation for not accepting an offer by local authorities to fly a drone over the site.
“Right now we’re looking to leverage unmanned aerial systems in the field. So we’re deploying those assets and, you know, some of the high altitude issues, we should have had better visibility. We thought we could cover it with the human eye, but obviously we’re going to change our approach and leverage technology to put unmanned aerial systems in place.”
Rowe also said the Secret Service will now have counter-sniper personnel at every event, rather than relying solely on local law enforcement snipers.
The Trump campaign has said it wants to continue holding outdoor rallies, which would create further complications for the Secret Service.
“It’s election season. Candidates want to be outside. It’s the Secret Service’s responsibility to create a safe environment, whether it’s indoors or outdoors. And it’s our responsibility to listen, identify challenges and concerns and think about what we need to do to mitigate those. So, if there are going to be outdoor rallies going forward, it’s our responsibility to provide all of our assets and resources to make sure those locations are safe,” he said.
Rowe also sought to avoid blaming local police officers who may have been aware of Crooks’ presence and tried to pass on the message to the Secret Service.
“I also want to reiterate that this is a failure of the Secret Service and they should not be blamed. We are not trying to shift the blame to anybody. And this is the key point, that we need our state and local partners who do this work with us every day,” he said.
Rowe said Crooks first fired three shots, but within three seconds Trump’s guards had rushed in to cover him, adding that the next eight shots were fired within minutes and that a Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed Crooks within 15 seconds of the shots being fired.
“It’s tough for them. They feel like they let their colleagues down,” Law said of the bureau’s Pittsburgh office. “They feel like they let their country down. And they’re wearing this, and it’s open. You can see it. It’s an open wound that they’re carrying.”
“We want to keep them motivated and focused on doing their job. They deserve our trust and they deserve your support,” he said of the Secret Service as a whole.
Rowe on Friday refused to make any commitment to fire investigators involved in the planning or response, a stance that had irritated many senators earlier last week.
“I am committed to holding the Secret Service accountable for its failures, and let me be clear: these individuals will be held accountable and subject to a fair and thorough disciplinary process,” he said.
“The facts will determine the outcome of this investigation. I am committed to accountability. I will not rush to judgment or ignore due process. All Secret Service personnel recognize the seriousness of what happened.”
