WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 For the second time in more than two months, the Secret Service that protects the highest echelon of American leaders is under scrutiny \u2014 this time after\u00a0a gunman hid in the shrubs\u00a0along the fence of former President Donald Trump\u2019s golf course for 12 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man didn\u2019t get a shot off, but critics question how he could be just several hundred yards away from Trump \u2014 especially after the Republican presidential candidate\u2019s security was beefed up after his\u00a0near-death experience in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden administration officials praised the agency\u2019s response, and former Secret Service agents say there are key differences between what unfolded Sunday and\u00a0the security lapses at an outdoor rally\u00a0in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman\u00a0climbed onto an unsecured roof nearby\u00a0and opened fire, clipping Trump\u2019s ear and leaving a spectator dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities say\u00a0Ryan Wesley Routh\u00a0camped with food and a rifle just outside the 27-hole Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president was playing Sunday. A Secret Service agent ahead of Trump\u00a0spotted the rifle\u2019s muzzle\u00a0poking through the fence and opened fire. Routh fled and was later apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s long been known to law enforcement that places along the edge of the property leave Trump visible to those behind the fence, and some have questioned why it was not protected. But a sprawling golf course poses specific challenges, especially for a last-minute round, even with\u00a0Trump\u2019s bolstered security, former Secret Service agents say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA 400-acre golf course with miles of fence line is breachable. And the systems put in place to mitigate those threats worked. That\u2019s not to say they couldn\u2019t do more. But there are limits to what is possible,\u201d said Paul Eckloff, a retired Secret Service agent who served on details protecting three presidents during his 23-year career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Secret Service is trying to protect a\u00a0growing number of high-profile people, from presidents to visiting dignitaries, in a vitriolic political environment. President Joe Biden and some Republicans are pressing for more resources for the agency still facing several investigations and whose\u00a0director resigned\u00a0after the first attempt on Trump\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said Sunday\u2019s golf game was not on a formal schedule or advertised ahead of time. That means agents may find out about it the day before or even minutes before it happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rowe emphasized that the gunman never had a line of sight on the former president and that security worked as it should. He said the\u00a0edge of the property wasn\u2019t monitored ahead of time\u00a0because Trump \u201cwasn\u2019t supposed to have gone there in the first place.\u201d Rowe described how agents spread out in front of and behind Trump, looking for threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump and his campaign have routinely\u00a0praised the agents protecting him\u00a0while expressing concerns about the agency more broadly, including that his detail isn\u2019t large enough given the threat level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But some have raised questions. During an interview Monday on Sean Hannity\u2019s Fox News show, Trump\u2019s son Eric questioned how the gunman was able to stay in that location for so long without being detected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose agents on the ground, they are remarkable,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there is a breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rowe a day earlier said, \u201cThe agent\u2019s hypervigilance and the detail\u2019s swift action was textbook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not possible for the Secret Service to shut down all traffic around the golf course, said Eckloff, who protected Trump while he was president, including at two of his golf courses in Florida. This course is in the middle of the city and taking such a step would have huge effects on residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump loves to golf and owns three courses in Florida. Trump International is closest to his Mar-a-Lago home and is a place he likes to go with friends. While Trump was president, news photographers were often able to capture images of him on the green by finding gaps in the shrubbery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Security around Trump was dramatically beefed up after\u00a0the July shooting. Trump now speaks from behind a bulletproof glass enclosure at outdoor rallies, and long guns are often spotted near locations where he\u2019s staying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency doesn\u2019t release specific information about his protection but Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Trump\u2019s detail now includes countersurveillance, a countersniper and counterassault resources. Before\u00a0the Pennsylvania shooting, some of those assets were used depending on the event but now they\u2019re permanently part of his detail, Guglielmi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a POLITICO event Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas praised the response Sunday and said Trump\u2019s security is now \u201cquite approximate\u201d to that of Biden. Many Republicans doubt that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anthony Cangelosi, a former Secret Service agent who is now a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the close call shows there\u2019s a need for more personnel to protect Trump and they could have been used to secure the course\u2019s perimeter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat visible presence is what you want to deter any actors from saying, \u2018Oh, I can do this today,\u2019\u201d Cangelosi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He commended the agent who spotted the muzzle but said there\u2019s always a chance they could have missed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Palm Beach County sheriff said the entire golf course would have been lined with law enforcement if Trump were president, but because he is not, \u201csecurity is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the second apparent assassination attempt, Biden said the Secret Service needs more resources and called on Congress to help. Rowe said the agency had \u201cimmediate needs\u201d and that he\u2019s talking to Congress about funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some lawmakers have said they\u2019re willing to consider it. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says money alone won\u2019t fix the problems but that he hears from Secret Service agents that \u201cthe work hours are awful. You\u2019ll never convince me that more people won\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers need more details, particularly because the Secret Service has said a lack of resources was not the reason for the security failures that led up to the first attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if new money is approved soon, it can take up to 18 months to bring on a new Secret Service staffer, retired supervisory Secret Service agent Bobby McDonald said. The agency may want to transfer more personnel from investigative work to its protective side, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no quick fix,\u201d said McDonald, now a criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven. He noted that temporarily bringing in people from outside the agency to help can come with its own challenges because they don\u2019t regularly do protective work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rowe stressed Monday that it wasn\u2019t just a matter of more overtime for staff, who he said were \u201credlining.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former agents also question where staff would come from. With all of the political vitriol and the immediate blame, Eckloff said he\u2019s worried about the effect of such animosity of those whose job it is to step in front of a bullet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re worthy of trust and confidence, but they need help. Constructive criticism is absolutely necessary,\u201d he said. \u201cBut just demanding firing or say that they\u2019re failures doesn\u2019t make anyone safer or increase national security.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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