Report: The US Secret Service needs urgent reforms, otherwise, assassination attempts will continue

The U.S. Secret Service demands fundamental reforms, otherwise, assassination attempts against high-ranking officials will continue, the Independent Review Panel said in a report. The report has analyzed the assassination attempt against U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in July of this year.

“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,” reads the document addressed to Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In particular, the 52-page report calls for the removal of some high-ranking leaders and the involvement of outside experts in the leadership of the intelligence service.

The authors of the report praised the work of agents who risk their lives to protect many of the country’s top officials.

The report contains both specific recommendations related to employee security and training, as well as general recommendations related to the work of the Secret Service as a whole.

It is noted that the first steps toward changing the leadership of the Secret Service had already been taken when Kimberly Cheatle, the agency’s former director, resigned in July under pressure from both of the country’s major parties.

Before that, during tense congressional hearings, Cheatle called the assassination attempt against Trump the worst intelligence failure in decades, first refusing to step down but doing so a day later.

The Secret Service is now led by Acting Director Ronald Lowe, who said the agency will carefully review the Panel’s findings.