The Secret Service knew that 2024 would be one of the most difficult years in recent memory due to the abundance of high-level events, but failed to prepare for it, the report said on Thursday.
Instead of growing as the difficult year approached, the service was shrinking: at least 1,400 of the 7,800 employees left in the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years, which was the largest outflow from the agency in at least the last two decades, the report read.
By the summer of 2024, the Secret Service had 8,100 people. Despite the fact that this figure was the largest in the history of the organization, it is still far from the 10,000-employee mark to avoid overtime work, the newspaper reported.
Problems were also revealed by two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump. For example, due to the lack of technical means during the first assassination attempt, the attacker was able to reconnoiter the situation using a drone, and due to poor communication, he was able to open fire, although agents spotted the attacker, the report added.