The Secret Service, the organization entrusted with the safety of the nation’s top leaders, is looking worse by the day and not this.
As we know, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old resident of Pennsylvania, managed to position himself on the rooftop of the American Glass Research building, unsettlingly close to the rally stage. He fired his rifle, seemingly aiming at the former president. It’s particularly scary how Crooks was able to situate himself on this unguarded position without detection from the Secret Service. This event led to a public outcry and embarrassment for the agency, who have yet to provide concrete details about the shooting.
Since the incident, the Secret Service has been under heavy criticism, even acknowledging their inadequate execution of duties. In a press conference led by Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, two disconcerting facts emerged. Firstly, the counter-sniper teams were oblivious that Crooks was armed until he opened fire. Secondly, the agency had no access to the local law enforcement’s radio system, which was broadcasting warnings about Crooks.
It was revealed via leaked text messages that local law enforcement had knowledge about Crooks almost 100 minutes before the attack took place. I
Without a representative in the local police’s mobile communications trailer, the Secret Service missed the initial warning about a “younger white male, long hair, lurking around the AGR building.” This information had to be relayed to a state trooper through a phone call by the local commander, indicating a significant communication gap.
The Washington Post got a hold of radio transmissions and it makes the Secret Service look even worse.
Below is a long excerpt from the Washington Post:
An urgent message crackled over the radio inside the white trailer, a mobile communications hub for local police helping to secure former president Donald Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pa.
“Just an FYI, we had a younger white male, long hair, lurking around the AGR building,” a local countersniper said at 5:42 p.m., according to a time-stamped transcript of encrypted radio communications obtained by The Washington Post. “He was viewed with a range finder sighting the stage. … We lost sight of him.”
No one from the Secret Service, the agency primarily responsible for protecting Trump, was inside that white trailer to hear the message, according to two law enforcement officials. Instead, the federal agency had its own mobile command post with Pennsylvania State Police almost 300 yards away — and had no direct, open communication line to the local police hub. The local commander inside the trailer had to pick up his cellphone and dial a state trooper to relay the message, the two officials said.
[…]
The radio transmission about the suspicious male with a range finder set off a flurry of messages between local officers on the ground and supervisors stationed in the Butler County command center trailer.
“Do you know what color shirt?” one sheriff’s deputy asked.
“White shirt with a hat,” another answered.
In a separate channel for local tactical officers — not audible on the channel used by sheriff’s deputies — the countersniper who first reported the range finder was giving a different description: “Gray T-shirt, light-colored khaki shorts.”
The local officers lost track of Crooks, and would not see him again for 20 minutes, the transcript shows.
Monitoring the three encrypted communication channels inside the trailer, located next to a lakeside warehouse to the south of the rally site, was Sgt. Ed Lenz, the tactical commander for the Butler County mobile unit, according to the law enforcement official familiar with the police response.
He was joined by a deputy commander in the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a Butler County sheriff’s sergeant and a county employee, the official said.
Lenz did not respond to an email with detailed questions.
[…]
Inside the local command, Lenz radioed to clarify that the person on the roof was not a police officer.
“We do not have assets on the roof,” he said. “That is not us.”
At 6:09, Lenz again dialed the state trooper to inform him about the suspect on the roof, according to the law enforcement official and call logs.
At the same time, a local officer said over the radio that he had a good view of the male on the roof.
[…]
At 6:11 p.m., a local officer hoisted up to the roofline by a colleague reported the first sign that the man on the roof was, in fact, a deadly threat.
“He’s armed,” the officer said, according to the transcript. “I saw him, he’s laying down.”
Local officials have previously said the officer lowered himself because his hands were on the roofline, preventing him from pulling his weapon as Crooks pointed his rifle in the officer’s direction.
“He’s got a long gun,” the officer said again into the radio.
Seconds later, Lenz radioed the Butler County quick response force, a team responsible for responding to any potential coordinated attack on Trump. The team was based in the barns behind the rally stage, documents show, but had moved out into a field and were facing the Agr building, according to video footage recorded two minutes earlier.
