by Gary Fouse
In thinking about what I could write about the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, I had to ponder what I could add to what is being reported and commented on by millions around the world. The answer to that question was right there swirling in my head because, among my primary concerns for former President Trump, the deceased spectator, his family, the two wounded individuals, and the country in general, I find that my thoughts also keep going back to the Secret Service and the criticism that is being directed at them.
Being a retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent (1973-1995), I had several occasions to come into contact with the Secret Service. On one occasion, I worked an undercover case with a Secret Service agent, and during my tour of duty in Milan, Italy (1982-87), they also had an office down the hall from ours in the US Consulate in Milan. Many people don’t realize that aside from their protection duties, the Secret Service is also responsible for investigating counterfeit currency cases. At that time, there was a lot of counterfeit US currency circulating in northern Italy, and so the Secret Service opened an office in Milan. To this day, I have a certificate of appreciation from the Secret Service hanging proudly on my wall, as well as an autographed photo of President Ronald Reagan “to (me) with best wishes”. (The latter was actually a gift from one of my Secret Service colleagues in Italy, and the signature is machine-made. I never met Reagan.) All of that is a lead in to saying that I have enormous respect for the Secret Service. I consider them an outstanding, professional organization, and I feel sadness at the apparent black eye they are suffering today.
Make no mistake: The agents who dove on President Trump, shielded him with their bodies, and got him into the vehicle are heroes. They did what they are trained to do, in effect, take a bullet, if necessary for the president-whoever that may be. Yet, the entire world is asking why that building, some 150 yards or so from where Trump was standing, was not secured. How did the shooter get up to the roof of that building in the first place? As I write, there is still speculation and outright Internet rumors going around as to how agents and or police responded to the rooftop alert from witnesses, exactly when the Secret Service snipers zeroed in on the shooter, and were they short on manpower, if so, why? That will all be sorted out in the coming days and weeks.
What I do know is that for every event that a Secret Service protectee attends, an advance team goes to the location several days earlier to prepare for the protection operation. They meet with local police, get information as to any possible threats in the area, identify locations of the closest hospitals, scout out the event location, and plan the operation. The question is how did that building figure in the planning and was it actually overlooked? The coming investigation will focus greatly on that advance trip and what kind of operational plan was made up.
Another point I want to mention is this: As with any law enforcement agency, these tragic events serve as a teaching point for agency training in order to prevent a repetition of any mistakes that might have been made. This is not for the purposes of crucifying individual agents, but for legitimate training purposes. The assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 became a training “manual” for future Secret Service agents, and their protection methods have become much more sophisticated since. Has that stopped attempts on presidents? No, unfortunately, these will continue, but lives can be saved.
Though DEA does not have protective duties, we do have operations that require planning. We have also had our share of tragedies and agents killed in the line of duty. In our case, these have mostly occurred during undercover operations and raids. To prevent these tragedies, DEA, like any professional law enforcement agency in the US, requires an operational plan be drawn up for instances like the above. (Of course, sometimes, things happen so fast that having an operation plan becomes difficult if not impossible.)
In terms of training, many of our tragedies in which we have lost agents have become material for training future agents. One term we use is “risk management”, that is, certain methods as to how risks can be reduced when working undercover or conducting search or arrest warrants. I myself taught some of those classes while stationed at the DEA Office of Training during my final tour of duty before retiring in 1995.
As I said, there is now and will continue to be intense scrutiny on the Secret Service. We know the questions; we must await the answers and the solutions. I sincerely hope that Congress does not decide that the solution is to scrap the Secret Service and reassign protection duties to another agency, DHS or the FBI. That, in my view, would be a grievous error, but that is a whole different discussion. If the Secret Service erred in Butler, they will correct the error and learn from it. If disciplinary measures are needed, they will be taken. If there is some institutional problem, for example, with current leadership, hopefully, that will be addressed. If criticism of the Secret Service is warranted in this case, so be it. I still believe, however, that these agents are dedicated, courageous, and professional people.
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23 Responses
And I believe they set up President Trump to be shot. My source notes: “Note: Jonathan Willis, the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at Trump’s rally, has informed the public that he had the assassin in his sights for at least 3 minutes, but the head of the Secret Service refused to give the order to take out the perpetrator. They prevented him from stopping the assassin before he took shots at President Trump.” Statement taken by Elizabeth Nickson (writes substack, Absurdistan) from what “appeared to be a military list server.” This is part of a two part strategy the Democrats have employed not just against President Trump – but all Americans for all of the Biden Administration. First they inflame publice opinion against Conservatives. This begets violence. Then, second, they removed security. (No police. No arrests. No prosecutions… you know the drill.) What they have done to President Trump is a seamless extension.
I have seen the site(s) with this information, and I give it no credibility whatsoever. First of all, if there is a real Jonathan Willis with the USSS (I doubt there is), he would be standing in front of a Fox News or even CNN camera now telling his story to the world not on some obscure website.
If for the sake of argument, a USSS sniper needed permission to take a shot (and I doubt he would in such critical moments), it would come from a supervisor on the scene, not the head of the agency sitting in her office in Washington.
Hours after the shooting, there was internet info floating around that named a suspect and a photo claiming he was an Antifa member. That proved to be false.
If the USSS screwed up here, that will come out because, first and foremost, the failure to secure that building cannot be covered up now. The world knows. To suggest that anyone in the USSS would engage in a conspiracy to facilitate the assassination of Trump or anybody else is just that-a conspiracy theory. We don’t help our cause by engaging in conspiracy theories.
And your notion is to let the Biden-run FBI handle the investigation in due time in due process. And I’ve seen the video of the sniper with eyes on the assassin – but not firing, for a long period of time… and then only shooting after shots are fired. And there are several more glaring absences of action. The facts point more to your answer being a cover-up, than my opinion being a conspiracy theory.
“And your notion is to let the Biden-run FBI handle the investigation in due time in due process.”
I don’t think I put it in those words, especially since I am no fan of the FBI. Any errors on the ground, tactical, or in the planning, execution, and lack of coverage of the building are pretty glaring and hard to cover up. If the “suits” in HQS made screwups in their decisions leading up to the event that led to increased risk for Trump, yes, emails and memos can disappear. The people at the top may lie to investigators. We have seen that happen before with Eric Holder, the IRS, Mayorkas, etc.
My basic point is that I do not believe there was any deliberate malintent on the part of the agents on the ground, any “conspiracy” to allow Trump to be assassinated. That is nothing but conspiracy theory- Alex Jones stuff.
There are VERY BIG breadcrumbs leading to the very conclusion that an assassination was deliberately intended. If not allowing the sniper to take out the assailant with a rifle on a building, look at the Democratic playbook leading up which involves not just Trump but an modus operandi involving other oppositional figures. First, they amp up incendiary comments. Second, they withdraw security. They offered Kennedy no security. They wouldn’t supplement Trumps security in the face of requests… and even had fill in security operating on this fateful day. This is the same actions they have taken regarding regarding everyday citizens including threatening of the Supreme Court Justices. Frankly, your cover answer full of certifications and insider professional knowledge is very Covid/Biden-stuff. How many times do we have to do there to see the rat?
Maybe it’s time for you to be more specific, for example
Who, according to you, specifically was planning for Trump to die at that event? Biden? Chuck Schumer? The head of the Secret Service? The AG? The head of DHS? The Secret Service agents on the ground in Butler, as well as the State and local cops? All of them? Is it your claim that the Secret Service and the local cops were working in concert with the shooter? How many people do you think were involved in this conspiracy?
According to you, what exactly was the plan, and how was it put together?
And who was in cahoots with the shooter? Who recruited him?
The problem with most of these conspiracy theories, from JFK to 911 and surely to this one going forward is that it takes anywhere from a few key players to many many co-conspirators to carry these things out, and yet, nobody ever comes forward in remorse after the carnage to spill the beans, supply irrefutable evidence, unravel the conspiracy, and bring about a conclusive solving of the conspiracy.
So to your mind, if I see a bank robber exiting a bank after having shot several people and speeding off in a car – I can’t say that a bank robbery has taken place unless I know everyone involved, have documented their plans, have evidence of every step along the way, testimony, major suspects… blah, blah, blah. Otherwise, it shouldn’t be believed that a bank robbery has taken place. My God, they have videos of the SS snipers holding fire until the sniper fires for over two minutes. They have a photo taken of the assassin in position on the roof. They have witnesses including police who saw the assassin on the roof and prior to that – whose warnings were ignored. And they had a security perimeter which is circular except for a pie-shaped slice leading directly from the sniper to the podium which was declared outside their perimeter. Your unwillingness to face the obvious, I’m afraid, is pandemic.
You are twisting my words. The shooting is your “bank robbery”. It certainly took place, and nobody is denying there was a monumental screwup, but it is your conclusion that this is a conspiracy that goes beyond the shooter and involves deliberate involvement by the USSS itself. Instead of addressing my specific questions, you twist my words. Just who exactly was involved in this “conspiracy”, according to your theory? Do you have any specific suspects? You say “they set up President Trump to be shot”. Who is “they”?
No. What I am trying to do is to straighten out your logic.
The initial culprits would be whoever handles the Secret Service Security and calls the shots. That there is a pattern of such negligence placed on top of an ongoing harassment of opposition political figures with a refusal to provide adequate security, points to a deliberate attempt to injure or kill the Democratic Administration’s opposition. It gets worse the more granular we examine the scenario. I have to add that your responses and reasoning are a textbook case of how cover-ups are fashioned and of the intellectual arguments employed.
Straighten out MY logic?
You still have not answered my questions: “Whoever handles the Secret Service security and calls the shots” is pretty general and vague. Those people may be quite guilty of negligence or incompetence, but you are making a big leap to accuse them of conspiring to kill Trump. “Whoever handles Secret Service security and calls the shots” could encompass a lot of people. What you pushing is a conspiracy theory. The more people in a conspiracy, the more chance somebody talks and the case is solved. (That’s logical.)
BTW: When I was an agent, I worked on many REAL conspiracy cases, and taught conspiracy classes while in DEA training, not as a lawyer but to teach drug agents how to make conspiracy cases and know the elements of federal conspiracy law.
I have no reason to cover anything up. I just live in the real world, not the universe of people like Alex Jones. Evidence, please. You throw out something circumstantial like opposition figures being harassed. That doesn’t come close. What you are presenting here couldn’t put a dog in the pound.
That is my logic.
Yes, and it is just such arguments as yours that will keep that dog (the Administration) out of the pound.
“If the USSS screwed up here, that will come out because,”
What?
The Biden Admin and Deep State will lose phone records, lose emails, lose data, lose correspondence and ZERO will happen. Nothing. Nada, maybe they fire Ms. Cheadle and replace with another DEI – Ms. Brainfart.
Same crap for 3 1/2 years -nothing has changed. It will only get worse.
Far be it from me to defend the Biden administration, but it’s pretty hard to cover up this mistake because it’s there in front of us. Just after I posted this, videos came out showing the shooter moving around the roof and people on the ground pointing him out to police. How can anyone deny the obvious? My point to Carl was that I reject any idea that this was a deliberate attempt to allow the shooter to get shots off and kill Trump. If you are suggesting there are phone records, emails, and correspondence within the govt. planning the assassination of Trump, I disagree. It may turn out that the USSS detail was understaffed, but that is a different argument. If you are referring to someone in Washington getting rid of records that point to mistakes in the protection, that would be plausible. That we have seen before.
Secret Service is a part of DHS.
When I was working for DEA, the USSS was under Treasury. Considering who leads DHS now, it is regrettable that they are under DHS.
I’m wondering what transpired in the gap between having the potential assassin in the sights of the SS and actually pulling the trigger on him right AFTER he got 5 shots away… I watched these young (apparently) SS snipers as they peered through their superb rifle scopes at the perp, for a considerable length of time.
Incidentally, Elizabeth Nickson (mentioned by Carl) is one ferocious investigative journalist.
Sleep well tonight my friends, knowing that my former employer, the now “fundamentally transformed” FBI, is on the case. Motive?? Well, let’s see now. They have never as yet, to my knowledge, figured out the motive behind Allahu Akbar!
For the sake of clarity, David, the FBI is your former employer right,? They are not my former employer.
Trump must wait his turn !
Why the refusal to release the JFK assassination docs which were due to be released years ago (as noted by RFK Jr.)?
Whose guilt is being concealed?
Yes Gary, that is correct. I rarely admit that anymore though to folks who ask:( And, I can correct Hannity and those like him. Unfortunately, is not just at the top!
David,
We could have a long talk someday over beers, but that’s a topic for a separate discussion (between us).
Carl,
“Yes, and it is just such arguments as yours that will keep that dog (the Administration) out of the pound.”
And on that note, we can bring a merciful end to this exchange of views. Hopefully, we will find more agreement on future posts.
Whew. 🙂