Chronic problems with the U.S. Secret Service have been investigated for years, but a recent report revealed that understaffing at the protective agency might be even worse than many people realize. The Aug. 29 report claims that the Secret Service is in dire need of more snipers and sharpshooters, and that if staffing levels do not improve, the public figures guarded by the agency could be at risk.
What does this report say?
The watchdog report was released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. The report found that the Secret Service's "counter sniper team is not staffed to meet mission requirements," and that the agency's current number of snipers is 73% below the necessary level.
This team is "composed of highly trained, precision marksmen who provide long-range observation and tactical support during the Secret Service's protective operations," such as the marksman who killed then-former President Donald Trump's would-be assassin in 2024. But the failure to properly staff this sniper team "could limit the Secret Service's ability to properly protect our nation's most senior leaders, risking injury or assassination," said the inspector general's report.
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The agency consistently relies on "overtime and personnel from other Homeland Security agencies in order to have sufficient staffing," said The Hill. Throughout 2024, when security was ramped up for the presidential election, snipers "worked nearly 60,000 hours of overtime." At least some of these snipers had "not completed the latest testing requirements yet were still used for coverage for events."
What is the bigger picture?
This report adds to the ongoing criticism of the modern Secret Service, going back to the Obama administration when the agency was often riddled with controversies and staffing problems. The agency itself "agreed with the inspector general's assessment of the counter sniper team," said ABC News.
Snipers who missed the "mandatory weapons training supported 47 of the 426 events (11%) attended by protectees in calendar year 2024," said ABC News. This includes multiple events attended by Trump as well as then-President Joe Biden. Despite the staffing challenges, the Secret Service "told the auditors that it was unrealistic to seek to add the number of snipers the agency requires given the onerous recruiting and onboarding process," said Government Executive.
The requirements to join the Secret Service's counter sniper team were cited as a hindrance to hiring. The agency's counter snipers "cannot be directly hired for that role but must first serve as an agent for two years," said The Hill. This requirement was recently shortened to 18 months, but the report said that "delay — as well as the prohibition on hiring military snipers — limits the pool of potential candidates."
But the Secret Service said it is working on addressing these issues. Their "specific needs are their counter snipers deployed not only at the White House but at protective sites," said Derek Mayer, the former deputy special agent in charge of the Secret Service Chicago field office, to ABC. The "primary focus of the Secret Service right now is on recruitment and hiring. This will allow for the Secret Service to hire the best possible candidates and prepare for the future and the 2028 campaign."
