A new GAO report says the Secret Service ignored dozens of security incidents, including repeated drone sightings near presidents and candidates, because agency policy never required staffers to explain why they weren’t making changes.
One of those gaps, the report said, was in drone policy, which remained unchanged until after an unmanned aircraft helped enable the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
The Washington Times reached out to the Secret Service for comment.
According to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday, the agency found that Secret Service policy doesn’t require personnel to document their rationale when they determine that an incident doesn’t warrant a protection policy update.
The GAO said Secret Service officials said doing so would be important because it shows an incident was fully reviewed. The agency said that without this information, it’s occasionally unknown why the Secret Service maintained the status quo.
“For example, the Secret Service encountered drone incidents from 2015 to 2021 but did not update its policies to address civilian use of drones prior to July 2024, when a shooter used a drone in an assassination attempt of then-former President Trump,” the GAO said.
“Revising its policy to require personnel to document the rationale for not making policy changes after incidents would provide the Secret Service with more complete information when considering protection policy updates to mitigate future threats.”
The GAO recommended that the Secret Service require personnel to document why protection policy updates are not needed after such incidents.
Additionally, the agency said the Secret Service has not reviewed and updated protection policies in a timely manner.
These policies are to be reviewed and updated within four years of issuance.
However, the report said the Secret Service has not reviewed or updated eight of 22 protection policies within the required time frame.
Secret Service officials told the GAO they tried to make updates in a timely manner but can’t always find staff available to do so.
The protection service recommended revising its policy to assign responsibility for updating policies to specific positions within required time frames.
The GAO also stated that since 1991, the Secret Service and Diplomatic Security Service, the protective division within the State Department, have not updated a key memorandum of understanding that delineates the two entities’ roles and responsibilities for securing the president and others traveling abroad, plus foreign dignitaries traveling to the U.S.
“Much has changed over the intervening years, such as the emergence of drone threats, and updating the memorandum would provide the two entities an opportunity to respond to evolving roles, responsibilities, and advance techniques,” the GAO said.
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