The Buck Stops... Where?

We welcome a new writer to The Ops Desk... Who asks the key question

Note: We welcome to The Ops Desk new writer, Chief Matt Pontillo (retired) of the NYPD. There are few roles in policing Chief Pontillo didn’t fill in a career of over three decades — including working international-level Secret Service details.

Two days after the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump, the Director of the U.S. Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, finally emerged to honor us with a public statement (we won’t need those milk cartons to publish the photo of the missing Director after all).

Unfortunately, we learned nothing. She stated “the buck stops with me” – hollow words pulled from the embattled-bureaucrat mea culpa playbook. And that tactic only continued with the Director’s defiant, evasive appearance before Congress on Monday.

(USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle — providing a clinic in passing the buck )

Make no mistake: By any metric, the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was a catastrophic failure by the Secret Service. The silence from the Director following the event was deafening and very telling. It’s incomprehensible that Cheatle did not publicly address the situation the evening of the event – even if it was just to acknowledge that the investigation was in its infancy, display some leadership, and commit to a comprehensive review of all events leading up to and following the shooting with regular public updates.

Timely action is critical since this goes beyond this incident – potentially the failures on Saturday could be reflective of institutional shortcomings and an organizational culture that jeopardizes POTUS, former presidents, and other Secret Service protectees. The issue is that large.

It appears that even before the Director (finally) emerged, some in her organization started to do some damage control by dirtying up state and local law enforcement, asserting that the assassin’s perch was located in the outer perimeter of the event site and that state/local law enforcement is responsible for the outer perimeter while the Secret Service is only responsible for the inner perimeter.

No dice. This is an abdication of the overall responsibility that the Service has for their protectee. The Secret Service conducts site surveys with relevant federal/state/local partners and determines the locations of the inner and outer perimeters.

Quite frankly, it’s reprehensible that an elevated position within 150 yards of and with direct line of sight to President Trump was not in the inner perimeter but instead relegated to another agency with incompatible communications and an apparent lack of coordination.

Director Cheatle’s proffered alibi for not posting someone on the roof because of “the slope” strains all credulity. Elsewhere at the site, counter-sniper teams were stationed on sloped roofs. In fact, the slope actually undermines her excuse; information released to date suggests that the counter-sniper who shot the assassin was hindered because the assassin was initially concealed on the far side of the slope the sniper occupied. Yet he made the all-important shot.

During my career with the NYPD, I have had the opportunity to work with the Secret Service during such high-profile events as the 2004 Republican National Convention, United Nations General Assemblies, and presidential and papal visits. The Secret Service leadership I’m familiar with were meticulous and methodical in examining every inch of a venue and surrounding areas, working in lockstep with the NYPD and identifying every potential vulnerability.

Irrespective of whether a location was in the inner or outer perimeter, the USSS and NYPD collectively and affirmatively determined who would secure each, making certain that every potential threat was accounted for and leaving nothing to chance. It’s not clear that the Secret Service has the same rock-star caliber cadre today, particularly in leadership positions.

To be clear, this is not an indictment of the hard-working agents who serve us well every day. On Saturday, we observed the very best of that service as the agents assigned to President Trump acted heroically – rapidly placing themselves in harm’s way and responding decisively to protect the president (the site survey that determines the security arrangements is typically performed by a group other than the team physically with the president).

No — this is about the failure of command and an absence of leadership. Such failures unnecessarily endanger the agents in addition to their protectee.

Director Cheatle’s boss, DHS Secretary and empty suit Alejandro Mayorkas, also graced us with his presence in a brief appearance last week. He offered the usual platitudes and vague promises of an independent and transparent review – whatever that means. Don’t expect much here.

After-action reviews should have been SOP. This is probably not the first failure in recent years – it’s just the first failure in which a sniper shot a president.

(DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas — or at least his suit. He’s Cheatle’s boss)

Finally, missing cabinet secretaries and agency leaders seems to be endemic in this administration. As much as it pains them, perhaps they can learn something about leadership from Donald Trump. In that moment, with his face bloodied and his fist raised defiantly in the air, he motivated the crowd, assuaged their anguish and inspired people worldwide. The failures and excuses exhibited so far have fomented a crisis of confidence about and within the Secret Service.

For the sake of the Service and benefit of the country, Mayorkas and Cheatle should resign immediately. The fact that they haven’t already done so demonstrates that the buck definitely stops someplace else.

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