A Secret Service sniper sent a fiery letter to the entire Secret Service Uniformed Division on July 29 calling out leadership within the agency for being responsible for the failure to protect former President Donald Trump and his supporters during the assassination attempt on July 13.
In the strongly worded letter, the sniper argued that the Secret Service has “fallen short” for years now because of failed leadership, but has been “lucky” to hide those failures from the public until now. He argued that the Secret Service needs serious reform immediately, including resignations or firings at the highest levels of leadership, as he predicts that bad actors will take advantage of the failing agency in the near future with another assassination attempt.
“I’m not stopping until 5 high level supervisors (1 down) are either fired or removed from their current positions,” he wrote. “This agency NEEDS to change, if not now, WHEN? The NEXT assassination attempt in 30 days? Because we all SHOULD expect another attempt to happen before November. We’ve exposed our inability to protect our leaders due to our leadership.”
The unidentified employee, who describes himself as a member of the Secret Service’s Counter Sniper (CS) team, went on to argue that the Secret Service employees on the ground during the assassination attempt carried out their duties “with their hands tied” because leadership — who have less experience on the ground — believed they “knew better” than actual agents.
“The technicians who worked on 7/13/24 in Butler, PA DID THEIR JOB with their hands tied. Secret Service SUPERVISORS ‘knew better’ and the foot soldiers working, made the best of a BAD situation that resulted in a civilian death and a near miss of the protectee and our Technician shooting and killing the suspect,” he wrote.
“I know many look at the CS team as ‘guys who sit on the roof’ and don’t do much,” he added. “But our responsibility, our MISSION, is not about protecting an EMPTY White House located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s about preventing and stopping another JFK style assassination, in whatever city that may be. Sadly, we have fallen short for YEARS. We just got lucky and looked good doing it. I have conveyed these thoughts to not only supervisors (to include the current Captain) within CS, but those responsible for training us (SOTS/CS). Only to be brushed off as if those with less experience somehow knew more than me.”
The sniper then pointed out that he fears his resume including his work on the Secret Service will now hinder his efforts to move to a new job because the failures on July 13 are “a stain I will never be able to cleanse.”
“The team I was once proud to be a part of, is something I have to now somehow hide as I move into my next career,” he wrote. “Who wants to hire a USSS CS guy who failed? That’s the public perception I’m now faced with. The USSS CS team is a stain I will never be able to cleanse.”
“Some of us take our job and responsibility seriously, DEADLY serious,” the letter continued. “I may be overzealous. But after 7 years in the Marine Corps as an NCO and 20+ years on the USSS Counter Sniper team, failure is not an option, and on 7/13/24, WE failed. Not because of commitment or sense of dedication. But because our SUPERVISORS (aka leadership) knew better and thought our concerns were less than important.”
He concluded his letter by arguing that the new “motto” of the Secret Service is “CYA” — meaning “cover your a**” — noting that “every supervisor is doing it right now.”
🚨🚨🚨 EXCLUSIVE: A Secret Service counter sniper sent an email Monday night to the entire Uniformed Division (not agents) saying he will not stop speaking out until "5 high-level supervisors (1 down) are either fired or removed from their current positions." The counter sniper… pic.twitter.com/0dg99EESQk
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) July 30, 2024
The sniper’s letter went viral on social media around the same time that acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe testified before Congress. Rowe took over after former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from the position in disgrace after her embarrassing testimony in a House hearing where she failed to answer nearly every question from lawmakers.
While Rowe desperately tried to defend himself and his agency from condemnation, he did admit during the hearing that he “cannot defend” the failures that day.
Acting Secret Service Directors ‘Ashamed’ of Colossal Roof Security Failure
“I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
RONALD ROWE: “I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots, and I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of… pic.twitter.com/dyCq411FXI
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 30, 2024
