Dan Bongino is a former special agent in the Secret Service and is very close to Trump world. The Secret Service spokesman is disputing this assertion, but my reporting on the agency over a decade has shown me that there’s often more to the story than even agency spokesmen know or are allowed to know right away.
A @GOPoversight is already underway re: the agency’s readiness and DEI policies. Cheatle and other top officials no doubt will be grilled on this topic and also the agency’s reactive rules of engagement in this situation that requires counter snipers to fire only AFTER a shooter fires first.
A @GOPoversight is already underway re: the agency’s readiness and DEI policies. Cheatle and other top officials no doubt will be grilled on this topic and also the agency’s reactive rules of engagement in this situation that requires counter snipers to fire only AFTER a shooter fires first.
The "glaring Secret Service mistake" was a problem assessing the line of sight + there should be an internal Secret Service paper trail on how many counter-snipers, other officers and agents were allotted to this event in Pennsylvnia, one source in the Secret Service community tells me.
Before the event, a Secret Service advance team walks the potectee's (in this case, Trump's) route (ingress/egrees) and the site then stands on the stage and looks out 360 degrees to determine vulnerabilities, keeping in mind effective lethal handgun and rifle ranges and making sure those areas are posted and covered. In this case, they missed the rooftop 130 to 150 yards away. Even for a mediocre shooter, that's not a difficult shot. Many competitive shooters compete out to 1,000 yards.
"How many counter sniper teams were there? On the presidential protective detail [agents] use as many as we needed if we could justify it. Former presidents and other details are lucky if they get one, and luckier if they get more than one."
When Secret Service agents do advance work for a rally or other event they submit a manpower request through the lead advance agent. The lead advance agent submits the number of post standers, magnetometers, counter snipers, etc, that would be needed for a particular visit.
A Secret Service official back in D.C. in manpower/protective operations then comes back and says, "You're only getting this."
"We would always be sure our requests were in writing so we would have a paper trail just in case of the present scenario we have in Butler," the source tells me.
Before the event, a Secret Service advance team walks the potectee's (in this case, Trump's) route (ingress/egrees) and the site then stands on the stage and looks out 360 degrees to determine vulnerabilities, keeping in mind effective lethal handgun and rifle ranges and making sure those areas are posted and covered. In this case, they missed the rooftop 130 to 150 yards away. Even for a mediocre shooter, that's not a difficult shot. Many competitive shooters compete out to 1,000 yards.
"How many counter sniper teams were there? On the presidential protective detail [agents] use as many as we needed if we could justify it. Former presidents and other details are lucky if they get one, and luckier if they get more than one."
When Secret Service agents do advance work for a rally or other event they submit a manpower request through the lead advance agent. The lead advance agent submits the number of post standers, magnetometers, counter snipers, etc, that would be needed for a particular visit.
A Secret Service official back in D.C. in manpower/protective operations then comes back and says, "You're only getting this."
"We would always be sure our requests were in writing so we would have a paper trail just in case of the present scenario we have in Butler," the source tells me.
This source adds that there was a female agent on the stage who did a GREAT job in covering Trump and making herself bigger by spreading her arms. However, she appeared to be about 5'5" -- exposing Trump from the chest up because he towered over her. In some agents' opinion, all agents (male, female, gender neutral, trans, etc) assigned to the POTUS or VPOTUS detail should be equal in height to the protected. That may be difficult to always achieve, but when you're supposed to be a human shield, the shield should cover the protected from head to toe.
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