WASHINGTON — Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. touted multiple changes and improvements on Thursday to his agency in the wake of two assassination attempts against Donald Trump earlier this year.
Rowe testified before a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the two separate attempts on the now president-elect’s life. The hearing wrapped up the task force’s months-long probe, with members voting unanimously to release the panel’s final report. However, tensions were evident as a heated exchange occurred between Rowe and a Texas congressman.
The Secret Service, which operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has faced intense scrutiny after a gunman opened fire at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring Trump and killing one individual. The assailant was subsequently killed at the scene.
A second assassination attempt against Trump was investigated just two months later near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the suspect pleading not guilty to the charges.
Rowe acknowledged the agency’s “failure” to secure the rally site in Pennsylvania, stating, “That abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations, and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public.”
Agency Improvements
To remedy these failures, Rowe outlined several initiatives, including an increase in “unmanned aerial systems” for aerial monitoring of events, and bolstered hiring practices. He mentioned, “We have really turned the tide on our hiring.
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