Washington, DC [US], July 4 (HBTV): In a report detailing security lapses, the US Secret Service failed to receive 102 local radio transmissions concerning the gunman who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a government watchdog report revealed.
The elite federal agency remained unaware of the crucial radio communications on July 13, 2024, due to a failure to establish a joint communications room alongside local law enforcement agencies, according to the report released on Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General. Local police units were actively receiving real-time updates regarding the search for a suspicious individual, who was subsequently identified as Thomas Crooks.
Highlighting the breakdown in intelligence-sharing, the federal watchdog pointed to the limited communication that left the president exposed.
'Instead, we found that the Secret Service received only five phone calls and three text messages about Crooks,' the report notes.
The communication gap prevented field agents from taking pre-emptive security measures to safeguard the stage.
'As a result, Secret Service members did not alert President Trump's protective detail about concerns of a suspicious person.'
Crooks, who was subsequently shot and killed by law enforcement personnel at the venue, managed to open fire while Trump was addressing the crowd from the stage. The security breach resulted in the death of a bystander and left multiple attendees injured, including Trump, whose ear was grazed by a sniper's bullet.
The attacker had secured an elevated position on a nearby rooftop, which provided an unobstructed, direct line of sight to the podium. When asked for an explanation regarding the vulnerabilities highlighted in the report, the Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Furthermore, the federal inquiry established that Crooks had operated a drone over the rally site just hours before carrying out the assassination attempt. This reconnaissance flight went unnoticed by security personnel because the Secret Service's counter-drone system was inoperable, the report said.
The anti-drone system was left in the hands of a single 'under-trained' operator who neglected to perform mandatory pre-event diagnostic tests on the equipment, according to the Inspector General.
The technician subsequently spent hours trying to troubleshoot the technical malfunction, during which the suspect completed his nearly nine-minute drone flight undetected by the agency.
The assessment adds to a growing series of investigations by government watchdogs and congressional committees, all pointing to structural failures and shortcomings in the Secret Service's tactical planning for the high-risk political event.
(ANI)