Susan Crabtree Profile picture
Aug 14, 2024 7 tweets 6 min read Read on X
🚨🚨BREAKING: Secret Service Dir. Rowe is addressing the whole agency right now in a conference call and is pressing for a complete "paradigm" overhaul and is advocating for major budget increases.

Says the idea/mindset that we're going to ask you to do more for less is over. "We can no longer operate with that mindset."

"We can no longer wear our people down."

"We have to win the day every day.... We have to be in state of readiness to be able to meet environment."

"I look at Butler as an opportunity also to examine our own paradigm, to examine our own methodologies, to challenge our assumptions, to look at the new dynamic threat environment in which we're operating in, to look at the demands in which we're placing on our people.

"We're rising to this moment. And so I see this as also not only a challenge, but an opportunity for us to make improvements to learn from this so that it never happens again."
(cont.) Rowe says people are now getting the message that we can't "max-out" our people and not compensate them for it.

Says USSS special agents and employees "who have great love for their country and great love for what they do, candidly, the way we work people it's just not sustainable."

"And people are hearing that now. They are grasping it, and we are making that case now."

He's also outlining new technology and new interoperable and sophisticated communications plans.

I'll outline those in this email.
‼️‼️ Rowe, in powerful, humble and earnest remarks, is now "telling employees to build each other up, not tear each other down."

"Look at your brothers and your sisters and the people who left and right of you. you're in this situation with you right now -- build them up -- be better teammates."

"President Lincoln said a house divided will fail -- We have to have unity and singular focus as an organization right now."

👉👉Just before those comments he asked everyone to do some introspection:

"One thing that want to talk to you about is this: Imagine if you had a family member, maybe your father, your mother or sibling or spouse, and they've dedicated their lives to being a core professional. They...become a special agent or uniformed division officer.

"They've made contributions, but somehow, one day, they show up to work, and somehow their co-workers now viw them differently. They view them as inferior. They view them as not being significant contributors to what we're trying to do."

"If that was somebody special to you, I'm pretty confident you would be upset by that."

"I have been saddened by some of the comments that have been directed at our agency, some by people who actually carried the same commission...that I did, or that you do. But we cannot allow that toxicity to creep into our culture."

Ends his remarks by saying: "God bless you, and thank you for your time."
Other important bullet points from Secret Service Dir. Rowe's all-hands speech:

--Said others had control of our budget (prob. a reference to Congress) and "we didn't have much control of it, but we have control now."

--Says USSS has "tremendous support from the Secretary [Mayorkas] and all the senior leaders at the department. Rowe announces that he and his executive board, led by the COO, have put together a plan to meet the short-term needs. (most likely this is an emergency supplemental appropriations request to Congress).

--The approach of saying, "We're going to do more with less, or we'll take care of you next year. that's over. That will not happen. We cannot continue to operate with that mindset."

--Says we have to have the people and technology to meet a dynamic threat environment, which includes the upcoming Olympics in 2028 and constantly evolving terrorist threats.

Great quote:
"It's not just about having the people, it's about the technical capabilities. It's about having that command, control, total domain awareness. When we go to a site, or we're operating in a city, we have [to have] total or complete awareness of [what's] going on, not only on the outer perimeter, but right up to it."
Rowe promised to increase hiring and to provide better training.

"We also have to strengthen our training infrastructure, because in order to be able to have the best protection force in the world, to have the best protection facilities in the world."

"And so these conversations are not just about one single aspect of where we are as an agency. It's about making sure we're looking at this holistically, and not just the next 80 days or so that's left in the election calendar. It's about setting the Secret Service up for success for the next medium and long-term goals."
‼️‼️ This is very important.

On the COMMUNICATIONS BREAKDOWN at the Butler rally and the lack of interoperability with partners:

Rowe said he's already directed the CIO to start looking at how we can use a model similar to the White House Communications Agency, which supports the Secret Service but only for presidential or vice-presidential events.

The WHCA, he says, ensures that the USSS has "connectivity."

"They ensure that we have radio communications [that] are solid, so that in the event of a critical incident, [we can] all talk to each other.

Says some high-tech teams within the Secret Service working to ensure comms continuous reception and connectivity -- said they are already going out to campaign events for Trump and Vance.

"And they are meeting that requirement, and they're doing it with a great job."

"That's what we need to strive for, and that's just an example of how dedicated our personnel are to making sure that we don't fail. So that model is going to be expanded. It's going to take investments. And we're having those conversations to say this is what we need to be successful.

On interoperability communications with local law enforcement:

"It's more than just trying to find the frequency of the local PD that we're working with and diving into our radio network," he said, noting that it will require investments. He said he's already stood up a task force that will be co-chaired by a Secret Service supervisor in the protective division in partnership with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

"We're going to bring together FEMA, we're going to bring together other operational elements of the department. We're going to bring in state and locals. We're going to get in a room, a small room and set them up to monitor communications with our counterpart."

👉👉He describes this new effort as a unified command -- SUGGESTING THAT IT WAS NOT UNIFIED AT BUTLER -- something that I have pointed out was likely the case, based on sources questioning what type of "command center" they used because it didn't seem like it was as formal and unified as many they do for official NSSE (National Special Security Events).

Wow.

From Rowe:
"We're going to put somebody in that command post, or we're going to establish our security room in partnership with that unified command post. It's the same model we use in National Special Security Events, so why would we use it on our daily operations?"

NSSEs are major federal government or public events that are considered to be nationally significant and may be designated by the President—or his representative, as well as the Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Rowe concludes his remarks with appreciation for the Secret Servcie's 159-year storied history, which over the last 20 years has become tainted by security lapses and other serious misconduct.

Despite the myriad challenges, Rowe promises to get the job done because "failure is not an option" and asks all of the Secret Service's employees, including himself, "to take care of each other."

"People are listening, and we are going to get this done, because failure is not an option.

There is no other way to do this. We have to do all of us are here because of the ones that went before us. We all have a connection to the past."

"We've been around for 159 years, and we're starting our 60th year. Those folks that started us in 1865 probably never imagined what we'd be doing today. We're here because of them -- the people that will come behind us will be able to do what they do because of what we do right now in this moment.

It's gonna take all of us. But I have every confidence in you, and I ask that you have every confidence in each other, because no moment is too big for us. We want to win because failure is not an option, and there's no other way for us to get out of this.

Let's take care of each other. God bless you and thank you for your time."

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More from @susancrabtree

Sep 11
🚨🚨EXCLUSIVE and #BREAKING: This is a current Secret Service agent, stating in a Facebook post, that Charlie Kirk deserved what he got.

"You can't circumvent karma, [sic] she doesnt [sic] leave."

The comments are similar to the incendiary remarks now former @MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd made on the network. The network fired Dowd from his contributorship yesterday for saying "hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions."

MSNBC called Dowd's comments "insensitive and unacceptable" and ultimately fired him.

The Secret Service agent's post is circulating in the Secret Service community with some agents upset over his sentiments because he appears to be celebrating the death of a political figure, and one whom the president is honoring with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and has often had by his side at events over the last several years.

Trump and others also credit Kirk with Trump's victory at the polls through the work he did rallying young people on college campuses and getting them out to vote.

What about other MAGA figures who often appear with Trump -- would the agent's political views prevent him from protecting Trump effectively or anyone who may be targeted while appearing with Trump or another administration official?

"If that's all it takes to set you off, that's dangerous to have around," one source in the Secret Service community told @RCPolitics about the agent's Facebook post on Kirk's death.

"I'm mostly concerned about the morals of a person sworn to protect the rights of others to engage in politics and exercise free speech, celebrating the death of someone exercising those same rights," the source added.

Several of the agent's Facebook posts negatively comment on Trump, his administration, and its policies, but nothing that I've reviewed is as pointed and offensive as this agent's post about Kirk's death.

I'm told this agent, who is in Phase 2 of his career, is not on a detail that would be regularly charged with protecting Trump. Yet, all agents, at times, are called off their official details/duties to contribute to presidential coverage of some kind or another.

In 2017, I reported on a now-retired senior agent named Kerry O'Grady who suggested in a Facebook post just weeks before the 2016 election that she wouldn't take a bullet for Trump. The Secret Service placed O'Grady, then the boss of the Denver Field Office, on paid administrative for nearly two years to allow her to hit her retirement date. She left the agency in 2019 with full pension benefits.

In the Wednesday Facebook post, the Secret Service agent, Anthony Pough, justifies his "karma" comments by making a blanket statement that "Charlie Kirk spews hate and racism on his show and adding the words: "Charlie Kirk says black women do not have the brain processing power."

It's an undeniably controversial subject matter, but the broad statement Pough referred to didn't include the full context.

These are Kirk's full comments in July 2023 after the Supreme Court declared affirmative action programs at public and private colleges and universities are unconstitutional.

Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Kentanji Jackson ― an MSNBC host, former first lady, U.S. representative, and Supreme Court justice, respectively — had all expressed strong disagreement with the ruling.

Kirk:
"You really have to wonder. In fact, you know, if we would have said three weeks ago, Blake, if we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and the late Rep. Sheila Jackson, Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been racist, but now they're coming out, and they're saying it for us."

"They're coming out and they're saying, 'I'm only here because [of] affirmative action.'"

He then played footage of Jackson Lee, stating that she was a "clear recipient of affirmative actions, and particularly in higher education," but insisting that she graduated on her own merits.

Kirk then added this response, appearing to refer to Jackson Lee, who had just spoken in the clip he shared with his audience:

"Yeah, we know you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously."

“It’s very obvious to us that you were not smart enough to be able to get in on your own,” he added.Image
Here are some other criticisms/rants re: Trump and his administration's anti-DEI policies that USSS agent Anthony Pough posted on Facebook this year. Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Jul 31
NEW WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM IN THE WORKS: @PressSec announces the construction of a new White House ballroom in the East Wing that will have the capacity to hold 650 people rather than the 200 that the White House can now hold.

The pricetag is $200 million, and Trump and other donors have committed to paying for it.

Photos of the project will soon be available at on the White House website. Looks gorgeous!

"President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail. The presidents and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserve the special history of the White House, while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future administrations and generations of Americans to come and the White House, we will continue to provide the American public, and all of you in the press with updates on this project.

"For 150 years. presidents, administrations, and White House staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex that can hold substantially more guests than currently allowed. President Trump has expressed his commitment to solving this problem on behalf of future administrations and the American people.Image
Here's the WH website with the photos of how it will look:
whitehouse.gov/visit/
This pic is my favorite -- look at the bay of windows! Gorgeous! Image
Read 4 tweets
Jul 13
🚨SECRET SERVICE SCOOP: Another 🤯Who signed off on the Butler security plan the day before the Butler rally even though there were discrepancies on how the AGR building roof would be covered in the plan?

Would you be surprised to learn it was:
Sean Curran, the head of the Donald Trump campaign detail, along with a supervisor for the Butler rally on his same Donald Trump detail, Nick Menster, and an inspector who was acting in a supervisory role, Nick Olszweksi, sources in the Secret Service community tell me.

All three got big promotions after Butler. Curran is obviously the Secret Service director, Menster is the No. 2 on the Lara and Eric Trump detail, and Olszweski, is ironically in charge of the Inspections Division, which falls under the Office of Professional Responsibility and ironically is charged with maintaining accountability and integrity for all USSS operations.

Who promoted the two Nicks? Curran.

None of those three supervisors received ANY discipline, but the two top bosses n he Pittsburgh Field Offices took the fall. They were disciplined, along with two other agents on their team, although all the disciplinary actions were slaps on the wrist.

Considering all of the above -- I find it highly interesting/relevant that @RandPaul's new report highlights this fact: "Details on these disciplinary actions were withheld from the Committee until Chairman Paul issued a subpoena for them on July 1, 2025. The American people deserve better."

They withheld it until 12 days before the one-year anniversary of the horrific Butler rally. This was under a Trump-appointed director -- Curran.

Full graph from Paul's new Homeland Security Committee report:
"Not a single person has been fired. USSS has conducted internal reviews, but only six individuals have faced disciplinary action. Two of those individuals received lighter punishments than initially recommended. The Committee believes more than six individuals should have received disciplinary action as a result of their action (or inaction) on July 13, 2024. Those who were disciplined received penalties far too weak to match the severity the failures."Image
This graph from @RandPaul's report about Kimberly Cheatle lying to Congress about not denying security assets for the Butler rally is so alarming it *should be criminal.

"According to USSS documents provided to the Committee, USSS Headquarters denied or left unfulfilled at least 10 requests by the Donald Trump Division (DTD) for additional resources during the 2024 campaign including enhanced counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) assets, counter assault team (CAT) personnel, and counter sniper personnel. i The documents revealed a pattern of certain categories of requests being either blatantly denied, unfulfilled, or required to be supplemented by local law enforcement or other federal agencies, such as the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). These documents further contradict statements made by former Director of USSS, Kimberly Cheatle’s testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform."
But of course, politics had nothing to do with it, according to the Secret Service. (Cheatle was hand-selected by Jill Biden to be the director.)

Counter Snipers On July 1, 2023, President Trump visited Pickens, South Carolina, for a campaign rally.iv Prior to the visit, on June 28, 2023, DTD requested the Office of Protective Operations (OPO) provide counter sniper assets in support of this event due to “line-of-sight vulnerabilities.” v This request for USSS counter snipers included a full justification from DTD, noting the expectancy of over 20,000 attendees, a statement that TSD relayed to DTD that the use of ballistic glass would not be an option for this visit, and a notification that then-Special Agent in Charge (SAIC) of DTD would be speaking to the OPO Deputy Assistant Director about the request.vi The OPO responded to DTD, only three hours later, stating that following a review of the justification and manpower availability, USSS counter snipers were not available.vii

Furthermore, despite the justification sent to OPO and a conversation between the DTD SAIC and OPO Deputy Assistant Director, the Committee was provided with internal DTD communications stating that Uniformed Division (UD) counter snipers in full or LNO (liaison) role would not be authorized for the visit, primarily due to manpower constraints.viii

👉👉Notwithstanding the history of denials from USSS Headquarters, the current Chief Counsel of USSS, appointed by President Trump, told the Committee that there was NO DISCERNIBLE EVIDENCE of political animus related to the reason for these denials.

ix In a briefing with the Committee, USSS explained the lack of Uniformed Division counter sniper personnel is a limiting factor when determining approval for specific events.x Similar to using HSI Special Agents to supplement post standers, USSS explained that following July 13, 2024, USSS entered into a request for assistance agreement with CBP to use their Tactical Unit Snipers
Read 4 tweets
May 27
🚨🚨#BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE: @RCPolitics has obtained video of the fight between two women Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers outside former President Obama's residence last week after one officer called a supervisor to come before "I whoop this girl's ass."

The skirmish is raising new questions about whether DEI is still plaguing the USSS despite Trump's directive to abolish it.

The Secret Service has not responded to my inquiries on whether these two officers are being disciplined and/or are still on the job.
👉👉A change -dot - org petition that is circulating among the Secret Service community, desperately calling for DEI and nepotism reforms at the agency.

Petition · Demand Accountability & Reforms for Secret Service's Security Failures on July 13, 2024 - United States · Change.org

A previous change.org petition by the same anonymous poster called for former Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign or be fired after the J13 assassination attempt against Trump.
change.org/p/demand-accou…

Here is some of the text of the most recent petition, calling on @SecretService Director Sean Curran to make major reforms:
"Government-wide DEI policies being pushed by Agency heads to further the Obama and Biden administrations' radical agenda are to blame for the lowered standards at Secret Service and the tragic events of J13", critics decried.

Although Rowe and Cheatle may have had good intentions, unfortunately they lost sight of the protective mission and their misguided DEI agenda had employed radical methods that resulted in many unqualified candidates not being properly vetted due to Tokenism (the practice of making a symbolic effort in the targeted recruitment of people from underrepresented groups regardless of merit in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within the workforce) which still continues.

This double-standard at the Secret Service is not only discriminatory and unfair, but is also dangerous and leaves the Agency vulnerable to insider threats and breaches in security.  Additionally, Tokenism is divisive and does a disservice to those truly qualified individuals who have earned their rightful place within the Agency based on merit, because when a Token inevitably fails the mission it only feeds the stereotypical false narrative that undermines the credibility of the rest of the group the Token is seen as representing.

However, it's been over three months into the Trump 2.0 administration. And while the Secret Service does have a new Director, many of these same critics are now questioning why it's still business as usual with accountability and reforms not happening nor an immediate house cleaning as was promised.

During a recent Question & Answer Segment with newly appointed Director Curran by Fox News Host Lara Trump, that aired this past Easter weekend, Director Curran was disappointingly not asked the tough questions in what appears to be more of a carefully orchestrated public relations infomercial aimed at changing the Agency's negative public image instead of a credible interview.Image
Read 4 tweets
May 16
🚨🚨 NEW: The Secret Service can force James Comey to be interviewed about his threatening social media post about Trump, according to two Secret Service sources.

If he refuses to comply with their request for what's known as a protective intelligence interview, the Secret Service case agent can apply for a subpoena through the assistant U.S. attorney and force him to answer their questions.

As an attorney, he will likely refuse to be interviewed without hiring an attorney and having that person present to provide counsel before answering Secret Service agents' questions.

On the other hand, Comey could agree to demonstrate how open and transparent he is and agree to cooperate and sit down for an interview.Image
Normally, the Secret Service treats these types of investigations into social media threats against sitting presidents very seriously. They are usually high-priority cases, and agents try to quickly locate the person who made the online threat and conduct a protective intelligence interview. These are usually in-person interviews.

Whether to immediately move forward with an attempt to conduct a protective intelligence interview depends on the USSS's threat assessment. If they believe Comey, or anyone else posting similar threatening messages about Trump, really does pose a danger to POTUS.

Prior to the protective intelligence interviews, agents gather fingerprints of the person, photos, and as much history about them, including residences lived in, spouses, family, etc.
The Secret Service closes out a high percentage of these investigations into online social media threats after determining that the people are incapable of formulating an actual attack or don't have the means to do so.

But if the Secret Service agents investigating Comey over this threatening post don't buy into his explanation that he didn't know that "86" has a violent connotation, and that there was a nefarious purpose behind the whole episode, then they can forward their findings and recommendations to the U.S. attorney for prosecution. It would be the U.S. attorney in the town where Comey currently resides.

###
Read 4 tweets
Feb 13
🚨SECRET SERVICE SCOOP: A woman special agent trainee on Wednesday shot herself in the leg at the Secret Service's Rowley Training Center and was airlifted to a Baltimore hospital emergency room, according to multiple sources in the Secret Service community.

Developing...I'll provide more details about the circumstances of how and why this occurred when they become available.

The incident occurred amid deep concerns that the Secret Service's DEI policies contributed to the failures on J13 and created an opening for Thomas Crooks to assassinate Trump and kill rallygoer Corey Comperatore.

Under the Biden administration's sweeping DEI executive order, former Secret Service Dir. Kimberly Cheatle signed onto the 30x30 national DEI initiative.

It calls for all law enforcement agencies in the country to have at least 30% of their forces be women by the year 2030. One of the reasons? Because women make fewer arrests. This 30x30 initiative and the way Cheatle is implementing it in hiring decisions and training qualifications was a major focus of an online petition and its whistleblowers’ concerns that it was impacting Secret Service training, readiness, and performance. This petition was circulating BEFORE the assassination attempts against Trump.

I'm told by the time Cheatle left under pressure from Congress after J13, she boosted women agents and uniformed officers to 24% -- just 6% shy of the 30x30 pledge.

I'll provide more info on the 30x30 pledge in additional linked posts.Image
From the national 30x30 DEI initiative's website: Image
Image
Read 8 tweets

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