The video is jarring and stuns the senses. Images of a former president who suddenly winces, grasping the side of his face then disappearing from view, ducking underneath a campaign podium, will not soon be forgotten. It was 6:12 p.m. in Butler, Pennsylvania, site of the presidential candidate’s latest campaign rally, when the unmistakable sound of rifle rounds shattered the festive air. This immediately prompted members of the 45th president’s United States Secret Service (USSS) detail to scramble, mounting the stage in force, piling atop their protectee, shielding his body from an attempted assassin’s likely follow-up shots.
The protection detail helped the former president to his feet, one of the agents barked “Move,” and they ushered a defiant Donald Trump “off the X” and toward a waiting armored SUV. Make no mistake: the attempted murder of a president (or an elected official) is not such a rare event in the United States. A number of sitting presidents have been the target of assassination attempts in our nation’s history, and the USSS continually investigates credible threats. Sadly, four U.S. presidents have been assassinated while in office.
As for yesterday’s incident, it is premature to assign blame for what appears to have been a major security lapse. How, a reasonable person will ask, could a would-be assassin close within 150 meters of a former president, assume a sniper’s perch with a direct, unobstructed sightline to where he will be speaking, and squeeze off eight rounds at the president’s head before being neutralized by a USSS sniper? These are legitimate questions.
I suggest this neither as a Monday morning quarterback nor social media “expert.” I’ve spent years in the business of counterterror operations, including serving as an FBI SWAT sniper and team leader and attending USMC Scout Sniper course while posted to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team. During my 25-year FBI career, I also served on executive protection details for three U.S. attorneys general and two FBI directors within U.S. borders and overseas. Experience tells me that the “after action review” for this near-miss will be exhaustive—and scathing. It will also, unfortunately, deviate from the tactical X’s and O’s and into politics.
Some of that detour will be worthy of review. Are reports accurate, for example, that the Trump campaign’s appeals to the USSS to beef up the former president’s security detail were denied? It is no secret that Trump can be a polarizing figure—wildly popular among his supporters, loathed by his detractors. If the request for more resources was denied, why was it?
Is there a need for dialing down the heated campaign rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle? Absolutely. The clarion call of reckless hyperbole and partisan references to an “existential threat” are all that an unstable, unhinged owner of a high-powered rifle needs to act.
Yet the post-incident FBI investigation will hyper-focus on the “mechanics” of the attempted assassination that resulted in the woundings and death of rally attendees. What should be done to prevent similar tragedies? Was this simply a matter of a paucity of resources, or were there tactical failures related to the operation’s advance-site planning and the positioning of agents around Trump? It’s hard to extend an outer perimeter (and fully clear property and facilities within that perimeter) if manpower is lacking. Congress and the American public will demand answers. But we need to allow the investigation to unfold. Also, we should appreciate the courage of the men and women of the USSS who selflessly rushed to the sound of the gunfire and placed their bodies in the path of deadly gunfire.
Lastly, in a free and open society like the United States, when someone like yesterday’s would-be assassin is determined to take action and willing to die, it’s important to understand that 100 percent protection is not possible. Political violence is a form of terrorism—violence in the pursuit of political aims. Even when an assassin’s bullet misses its intended target, it affects our sense of safety and security. That knowledge fuels the terrorist and aids in the pursuit of his depraved goals. And the time-honored warning still applies: the bad guys need to get lucky just once; the good guys must get it right every time.
Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images