From Susan Crabtree: Here’s my reporting on why the Secret Service did not shoot until AFTER the shooter engaged and some context about the House Republicans’ investigation already underway (months before Trump’s assassination attempt) into whether the agency’s DEI policies are affecting its readiness.
The blowback against the Secret Service started within the hour of the assassination attempt and continued even after Trump and other credited the agency with saving Trump’s life by quickly killing a shooter crawling across a nearby rooftop.
But a source within the Secret Service community tells Real Clear Politics that the agency rules of engagement in this situation are to wait until the president is fired upon to return fire.
“You want to take a shot then find out the guy was holding a telescope?” the source suggested. “The Secret Service is by nature reactive…and you better be right when you do react or you’re f-----d.”
The Secret Service protocol requires that a counter sniper aware of a potential shooter to radio directly to intelligence division team to respond and investigate. In this case, the investigation may have been cut short by the shooter firing his weapon, so the counter sniper then fired as quickly as possible in return.
The source praised the counter sniper who acquired the target and responded within three seconds, calling their performance “incredible.” “The counter snipers are highly trained and extremely accurate,” he said.
Others with law enforcement and military backgrounds want to know whether the Secret Service utilized drones, i.e. small unmanned aircraft systems, to provide detailed situational awareness. If the agency did not use drones, why not, these experts ask.
The use of drones has been a controversial issue within the agency since at least 2016. Implementing drones would have provided detailed line-of-site analysis and aerial surveillance that would have easily identified the rooftop as a potential threat area.
“The USSS has access to all the best imagery and elevation data,” the military expert told RCP. “I’m not saying they didn’t [use drones], but it’s an open question.”
The once vaunted Secret Service lost some of its former respect after a string of fence-jumping incidents and other security lapses came to light during the Obama administration.
At the beginning of the Trump administration, a senior special agent in the Secret Service came under fire for suggesting in a Facebook post that she wouldn’t “take a bullet” for Trump. Kerry O’Grady, the former agent in question, was placed on administrative leave but was allowed to retire with full benefits, which outraged many in the Secret Service community.
The agency, more recently, has come under scrutiny for its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, after a female agency attached to Vice President Kamala Harris’s protective detail and identified as Michelle Herczeg, had an apparent mental breakdown and physically attacked her senior officers at Joint Base Andrews before a trip. An agency spokesman called the issue a “medical incident,” but other members of the Secret Service launched a petition over the agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion hiring and vetting policies during the Biden administration, as first reported by RCP.
The protocols get people killed. They almost got Trump killed. We are talking about arguably the most important person on the face of this earth at this time. A man on a roof where he is not supposed to be with a rifle should have been shot at the very latest the second they saw him raise his gun.
This same bunch has been handicapping our troops on the battlefields with their bullshit rules. We need some common sense in positions of power instead of bleeding heart liberals. They get patriots killed with their bullshit.
By design; the Puppet Masters use Rules of Engagement to control everyone and everything.
And to get targeted people killed.
so wait, i can point a gun at a president, and the SS won't take me down until I pull the trigger?
that seems a little, uhh... f**king retarded
You are correct sir
Full Retarded.
What I don’t understand is why didn’t they cover Trump and get him off the stage until somebody went and talked to this kid?
And how long has this "reactive policy" been in place? Was it put into place by the current DEI head of the SS?
At 130 yards, a rifle scope can count nose hairs on a shooters face. The motherfuckers can most certainly distinguish an assassin sniper rifle from a "telescope." "Reactive policy," what a load of bullshit.
That is no reason for the only possible sniper perch in the area not to be secured by SS. It was a known issue days before the rally! All I hear are excuses, not reasons.
A number of years ago, I was at a political rally for a GOP presidential candidate. I managed to get to the front of the line where the candidate was walking along and shaking hands. The air was cold, so everybody was wearing a jacket. After I shook the candidate's hand, and he was moving along to others, I reached into my jacket to get my phone and snap a pic. A Secret Service guy instantly grabbed my wrist, at which point I realized I had made a really dumb move. Our eyes met and I instantly apologized and removed my hand. He let go and moved on.
Now that I think about it, he should not have let go, until another SS guy took off my jacket and made sure that I was clean.
And I admit that the candidate was Romney. OK, he was the best thing that we had, even though now I realized he's big-time deep state.
When you said that he let go, my immediate reaction was they should have searched you.
Whoever came up with this cucky, pansyland B.S. needs to be ousted ASAP. Woketardism endangers lives.
No one sitting in the back should tell the folks on the ground when it is ok to take a shot. They don't know shit about what is really going on in the back row.
If you don't trust the judgement of your sniper he doesn't need to be your sniper.
I heard they don't need permission to take the shot . They have all the training and clearances to make the decision
Why did they not notify the Secret Service that are right next to the President, so they could have gotten the President down at least out of harms way before a shot was fired? This is not making since?
NO you don't wait to engage......You take him off the stage. Never do you wait until someone is killed......That is ridiculous. You prevent it
This doesn't make sense and it's not what others who worked secret service were saying in the aftermath.
Interesting. Can you post the policy. I went through PSS training for overseas contracting. Our policies were proactive. I understand the difference in areas of operation and why that could be but it was taught to us as part of our rules of engagement during PSS overwatch training. I did K9 so I was at venues well ahead of the principles doing sweeps. I did post in here it was proactive so if true I'm wrong and apologies. It is a bit inconceivable to me though.
In this I find that a guy with abtelescope allowed on a rooftop 135 yds from a president is unforgivable. Si I'd like tonat least see it verified with policy. Because it doesn't make sense just to kill the guy after the fact since you lose the principle. That policyn s unsound if true.
Personally, I would say a guy crawling around on the roof with a sniper rifle requires a PROACTIVE response! Jus sayin!
I chose purkiss spot to drop my opinions because my South African brother has good intentions and puts in the work . Thanks bro
An SS sniper should have been able to shoot the gun right out of his hands...
Everything that doesn't make sense, does make sense when you look at it as a planned deep state assassination.
On the one hand, this is good information and helps rule out the notion that the USSS sniper was part of an assassination plot.
But, now everyone knows that you get at least one shot. So, why in the hell is this policy being publicized?
So, maybe it's fake news. I don't know. But I would guess that there are evil people who are thinking that they can use this info to their advantage.
Stupid is as stupid does.
They didn’t wait for the assassin, they waited for permission to shoot. Police should have engaged assassin the minute he was on the roof with a gun.
Now let's get into the Q team patriots are in control stuff. I believe everything is in control and as bad as it seems Trump was never in danger. However that was made possible I don't know but we are living thru historic times and NCSWIC . You either believe God wins or you dont