An internal review by the US Secret Service has identified poor planning and a breakdown in communication among a litany of security failures on the day of Donald Trump’s assassination attempt two months ago.
Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said the interim report suggested “complacency” by some of his agents.
He said that the use of different radio frequencies by the police and the Secret Service meant that Trump’s protection team was not aware that a suspicious person had been identified at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The report also highlighted the failure to secure the building from which the shooter fired. The July 13 attack led to the resignation of the last director of the secret service.
“The Secret Service has not given clear guidance or direction to local law enforcement partners,” Mr Rowe said on Friday.
A gunman fired eight shots at Trump from the roof of a building. The Republican White House candidate’s ear was grazed by a bullet, one protester was killed, and two others were wounded before a Secret Service sniper shot the suspect dead.
Friday’s internal findings suggest that Trump’s security detail was not aware that state and local law enforcement were intensively pursuing a suspicious person, who turned out to be the gunman.
Had they been aware, the agents could have moved Trump to another location during the search, according to the report.
Law enforcement also communicated vital information over Secret Service radio frequencies.
The suspect was able to climb onto a nearby roof with a direct line of sight to where the former president was speaking.
Rowe described a “lack of follow through” in controlling access to the building and roof.
He added that sight line issues involving the building were recognized but not mitigated or escalated to supervisors.
The acting director said the Secret Service cannot “defer our responsibilities to others” as the agency moves into an accountability phase of its review.
“This was a failure on the part of the US Secret Service,” Mr Rowe said.
“It is important that we take responsibility for the failures of July 13, and that we use the lessons learned to ensure that we do not have another failure like this again.”
The agency says disciplinary action will be taken against the agents involved.
The acting director spoke of a heightened threat environment following the second apparent assassination attempt involving Trump on Sunday in Florida.
He said the agency needed a “paradigm shift.”
Also on Friday, the US House of Representatives voted unanimously to strengthen Secret Service protections for presidential and vice presidential candidates. The bill must pass the Senate.
