BURSTThe internal watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security issued the first of several reports evaluating the U.S. Secret Service in the wake of the attempted assassination of President Trump in Pennsylvania last year, determining its countersniper team is chronically understaffed.
The Office of Inspector General said the report is the first of five reviewing the attempt on Trump’s life during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., focusing on the fitness of the countersniper team to respond to threats at events.
“The United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) Counter Sniper Team (CS) is staffed 73 percent below the level necessary to meet mission requirements," the report concluded. "Failure to appropriately staff CS could limit the Secret Service’s ability to properly protect our Nation’s most senior leaders, risking injury or assassination, and subsequent national-level harm to the country’s sense of safety and security."
“Given its chronic understaffing, CS relied on overtime and leveraged personnel from other Department of Homeland Security components to meet mission requirements," the watchdog added.
The Secret Service did not dispute the conclusion of the report.
The agency has been heavily scrutinized since shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to scale a building outside of the security perimeter at the Butler rally, firing off multiple shots, killing Trump supporter Corey Comperatore and striking Trump’s ear before being killed by a sniper.
The report details that the Secret Service has routinely relied on overtime and personnel from other Homeland Security agencies in order to have sufficient staffing, including for the campaign season and the 2025 inauguration. Last year alone, countersnipers worked nearly 60,000 hours of overtime.
The review also found that some snipers had not completed the latest testing requirements yet were still used for coverage for events.
“Some counter snipers did not meet mandatory weapons requalification requirements. Counter snipers who missed mandatory weapons requalification sessions (i.e., retesting their ability to shoot accurately in the daytime and at night), nonetheless supported 47 of the 426 events (11 percent) attended by protectees in calendar year 2024,” the watchdog found.
Countersnipers employed by the Secret Service cannot be directly hired for that role but must first serve as an agent for two years. While that process has recently been shortened to 18 months, the report said that delay — as well as the prohibition on hiring military snipers — limits the pool of potential candidates.