前总统特朗普站在宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒的竞选集会舞台上，直面特勤局最大的恐惧，暗杀企图。在这种情况下，枪手被该机构的一名反狙击手打死，而前总统的贴身警卫包围了特朗普，形成了一个“身体掩体”来保护他免受威胁，然后将他转移到车队，送往医院。
从特勤局训练的角度来看，他们花了很多时间来防范和应对暗杀企图，细节的反应看起来接近教科书。
当然，枪手如何以及为什么能够尝试这种类型的袭击是需要回答的问题，这样特勤局和国家才能感到安全在2024年竞选的剩余时间里。
刺客和暗杀自古以来就存在。对于特勤局，一个在威廉·麦金利总统遇刺后承担起保护任务的机构来说，该机构被广泛认为是世界范围内刺客和刺客联盟的专家减轻这些威胁。
减轻这些类型的威胁可能很困难，因为刺客只需要一次机会就能产生影响，而特勤局需要100%正确，100%的时间。在总统竞选期间，这可能包括一天内在多个州的多次停留(又名:站点)。特勤局必须确保每个人的安全。
为此，特勤局派出由特工和其他专业人员组成的“先遣队”前往每一个地点，以评估安全需求并制定安全计划。该计划通常包括额外的特勤局人员，地方和州执法人员以及技术资产，可能包括K9，防弹装甲，直升机，特警队，如果靠近水域，船只。一旦该计划到位，资源的要求和特勤局激增人员和材料到每一个网站。
例如，如果有八个地点，特勤局必须向每个地点派出车队。所有这些协调都是与州和地方对口单位进行的，他们也为安全计划提供投入，因为他们是当地的专家，并提供额外的资源来支持这次访问。在一些地方，如纽约市，NYPD有大量的资源来增加安全计划。在其他地方，比如未遂暗杀发生的宾夕法尼亚州巴特勒，州警察和当地部门可能不得不从邻近的管辖区或整个州寻求支持。
在巴特勒竞选现场，特勤局与当地和州的同行以及其他联邦机构合作制定了安全计划，该计划现在将接受多项调查，以确定哪些工作有效，哪些可能存在差距。特朗普在枪击事件中受伤，一名旁观者死亡，另有两名旁观者受伤。
特勤局和国土安全部监察长办公室将对该网站的安全计划进行调查，并试图找出任何漏洞，这被称为检查部门的任务保证调查。这种相同类型的调查在特勤局卷入的每一个潜在的安全事件后进行，并经常帮助他们学习和变得更好。
在州和联邦刑事调查进行的同时，特勤局肯定会像他们通常在事件发生后所做的那样，对每个受保护地点和受保护人周围的安全协议进行自上而下的审查。这将确保他们发现并解决任何差距，并在他们认为有必要的地方增加安全协议。
2019年是特朗普总统在任的最后一个非疫情年，特勤局对超过7721次国内旅行进行了保护性的推进，并在372次国外旅行中与他们的被保护人一起前往海外，很少发生事故。
2023年，特勤局在5245次被保护人访问中覆盖了33个被保护人，包括343次在外国的访问。此外，该机构还计划、协调和实施了三次国家特别安全活动的安全措施，包括国情咨文、美非领导人峰会和第78届联合国大会。通过所有这些，该机构是100%无事故的。
因此，尽管事情可能会发生，当它们发生时，需要检查原因，并将解决原因。
What Trump's assassination attempt may mean for the Secret Service: ANALYSIS
Former President Trump stood on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania at a campaign rally and came face-to-face with the Secret Service’s greatest fear,an assassination attempt. In this case, the shooter was killed by one of the agency's counter snipers while the former president’s detail swarmed Trump, forming a “body bunker” to shield him from the threat, and then moved him to the motorcade and off to a hospital.
From the Secret Service training perspective, one that focuses a lot of time on protecting against and the response to assassination attempts, the detail’s response looked near textbook.
Of course, how and why the shooter was able to even try this type of an attack is the question that will need to be answered so the Secret Service and nation canfeel secureduring the rest of the 2024 campaign.
Assassins and assassinations have been around since the beginning of time. For the Secret Service, an agency that assumed its protective mission after the assassination of President William McKinley, the agency is widely regarded as the worldwide experts in assassins andmitigating those threats.
Mitigating these types of threats can be difficult, as an assassin only needs one opportunity to make an impact while the Secret Service needs to be 100% correct, 100% of the time. During a presidential campaign, this can include multiple stops (aka: sites) across multiple states in a single day. The Secret Service has to ensure each is safe.
To do this, the Secret Service launches “advance teams” composed of agents and other specialist personnel, to each of these sites in order to assess the security needs and build a security plan. That plan typically includes additional Secret Service personnel, local and state law enforcement officers as well as technical assets that could include K9’s, ballistic armor, helicopters, SWAT teams and if near the water, boats. Once that plan is in place, resource requests are made and the Secret Service surges personnel and materials to each and every site.
For instance, if there are eight sites, the Secret Service has to send a motorcade package of cars to each. All of this coordination occurs with state and local counterparts who also provide input into the security plan, since they are the local experts, and provide additional resources to support the visit. In some places like New York City, the NYPD has tremendous resources to add to a security plan. In other locations, like Butler, Pennsylvania, where the attempted assassination took place, the state police and local departments may have to call in support from neighboring jurisdictions or from across the state.
At the Butler campaign site, the Secret Service worked with its local and state counterparts as well as other federal agencies to develop the security plan, which will now become subject to multiple investigations to determine what worked and what gaps may have occurred. Trump was injured in the shooting, a bystander was killed and two other spectators were wounded.
The Secret Service, along with the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s office will investigate of the site’s security plan and try to identify any gaps, known as a Mission Assurance investigation by the Inspection Division. This same type of investigation is performed after each and every potential security incident the Secret Service is involved in, and often helps them learn and get better.
While the state and federal criminal investigations are undertaken, the Secret Service is sure, as they typically do after an incident, to do a top to bottom review of the security protocols around every protected site and protectee. This will ensure that they identify and address any gaps and increase security protocols wherever they see a need.
In 2019, the last non-pandemic year when President Trump was in office, the Secret Service conducted protective advances for over 7,721 domestic trips and traveled overseas with their protectees during 372 foreign trips with few incidents.
In 2023, the Secret Service covered 33 protectees across 5,245 protectee visits including 343 in foreign countries. Additionally, the agency planned, coordinated, and implemented security for three national special security events, the State of the Union Address, the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, and the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Through all of that, the agency was 100% incident-free.
So, while things can happen and when they do, the reasons need to be examined and will be addressed.
