A newly released Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s report paints a damning picture of the security failures that nearly cost President Donald Trump his life at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally last year.
According to the report, local law enforcement made 102 radio transmissions about suspected gunman Thomas Crooks as he moved into position on a nearby rooftop. The Secret Service, however, never heard a single one.
Instead of sharing a unified communications system with local police, the agency relied on a handful of phone calls and text messages, receiving just five calls and three texts about the growing threat.
The report reveals another startling detail. After learning that Crooks had climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research complex, a Secret Service counter-drone operator reportedly searched Google to find the building’s location rather than asking local officers on the scene. While that search was underway, Crooks opened fire from just 155 yards away, grazing Trump’s ear by less than an inch.
Investigators concluded that the Secret Service missed “multiple opportunities” to detect, prevent, and stop the attack.
Among the failures identified were an inoperable counter-drone system, an undertrained drone operator, poor intelligence sharing, unsecured areas outside the security perimeter, and a failure to block known lines of sight to the stage.
The report also found that despite increasing concern among local officers beginning well before the shooting, the agents directly responsible for protecting Trump were never informed that Crooks had taken a firing position on the roof.
Crooks was ultimately killed by a law enforcement sniper after opening fire. One rally attendee was killed, and two others were wounded.
The Secret Service said it agrees with the inspector general’s recommendations and stated that many of the reforms identified in the report have already been implemented. Even so, the report concludes that multiple preventable failures combined to create the conditions that nearly resulted in the assassination of a former president.