Independent Panel Warns Another Potshot Assassination Attempt ‘Can and Will Happen Again’ In Scathing Report on Secret Service

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A scathing report from an independent panel convened by the Biden administration and released to the public on Thursday predicted that without significant reform measures, another potshot assassination attempt like the one on former President Donald Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania earlier this year “can and will happen again.”

According to the panel, its investigation revealed “deep flaws in the Secret Service, including some that appear to be systemic or cultural,” including: “a lack of clarity, in practice, regarding who has overall security ownership of a protectee’s site on the day of an event,” and “a troubling lack of critical thinking by Secret Service personnel,” among other issues.

In a letter presenting their findings to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas , the panel wrote, “The United States Secret Service aspires to be the best protective service of high-ranking government officials in the world. This is a zero-fail mission, for any failure endangers not only the life of the protectee, but also the fundamentals of our government itself. Today, however, the Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission. The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved.”

“Thousands of men and women have dedicated their lives to the Secret Service, and we remain grateful to them for their bravery, selflessness, and willingness to serve in a vital role,” they continued. “But the Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission. Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again.”

The pair of attempts on Trump’s life in recent months — and in particular the one in Butler that saw the former president’s ear grazed by a shot fired by his would-be assassin — has raised serious questions over the Secret Service , with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle questioning how someone with a gun could get so close to Trump.