A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
An independent investigation into the U.S. Secret Service concludes the agency needs reform. Janet Napolitano served as Homeland Security secretary to President Obama. Mark Filip served as deputy attorney general during the George W. Bush administration. They both reviewed thousands of documents and conducted dozens of interviews as they studied the attempted assassination of former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, from the roof of a nearby building. I asked Secretary Napolitano about the biggest failures of that July day.
JANET NAPOLITANO: The panel found a number of operational mistakes from poor planning to poor decision-making in terms of line of sight, in terms of protecting the AGR building, in terms of how the communication setup was established. But more important, we asked ourselves the question, what led to those mistakes? And that inquiry really led us to a deeper set of recommendations and reforms that are more systemic that we believe the Secret Service needs to undertake.
MARTÍNEZ: And all of those things, secretary, just by hearing you tick them off, it sounds like it would mean a lack of leadership as well.
NAPOLITANO: A lack of leadership was one of the key findings of the panel. And one of the other key findings was that the service has become somewhat insular, and we believe some fresh perspectives from new types of experiences would be well-warranted in the leadership ranks of the Secret Service.
MARTÍNEZ: Well, let's get into some of those fixes. Mark, let's start with you on this. What are you recommending?
MARK FILIP: As the secretary alluded to, we think there should be leadership changes, including an infusion of perspectives from outside the Secret Service. Second, a focus on training. There's a very, very small amount of time and resources devoted within the Secret Service to training. That's not fair to the agents who are asked to put their lives on the line. And then third, a hard look, a real focus at what it takes to execute to a zero-fail level on the protective mission. And if that requires shedding other things that the Secret Service has been asked to do over the decades, those should be given to other agencies that are capable of doing them.
MARTÍNEZ: In addition, Secretary Napolitano argues the Secret Service needs to upgrade its use of technology and training. In Butler, she says, only one antidrone system was in use.
NAPOLITANO: And it failed, so they had no redundancy, and it was being operated by a young agent who had no formal training on use of the device.
MARTÍNEZ: Hearing both of you mention what you'd recommend, I'm kind of just sitting here in shock that all of these things that you're mentioning aren't part of the day-to-day culture of the place. Mark, is that kind of part of the problem, too?
FILIP: We ask a great deal of the Secret Service. It's a challenging mission, particularly during, you know, national election years. The culture does need to become consistent with the zero-fail nature of the mission and what's required. And we hope that in the wake of this report and others that people will give the focus and resources to the service that allows it to have both the internal and external accountability to discharge that zero-fail mission.
MARTÍNEZ: Just wondering, when you were a Homeland Security secretary to President Obama, were you under protective detail by the Secret Service?
NAPOLITANO: I was.
MARTÍNEZ: And back then, how did - did you feel safe? Did you feel like there were no issues when it came to your safety?
NAPOLITANO: I felt totally safe, and I had a 24/7 Secret Service detail as the secretary. And I will say that, you know, we had some operational problems with the service when I was secretary. But what we found in the Butler investigation was something deeper. It was a series of operational missteps and mistakes that really helped uncover deeper cultural and systemic issues.
MARTÍNEZ: One of the things that I've always wondered about the Secret Service, secretary, is that in addition to protecting America's leaders, the Secret Service also investigates a wide range of financial crimes. Shouldn't the agency in charge of protective detail of the president have no other mandate? I mean, is that even possible that the Secret Service or the agency that protects the president have no other thing that they need to do that day but to protect the president?
NAPOLITANO: Well, the panel report was highly skeptical of some of these other missions of the Secret Service. Those include financial crimes. They also include cybercrime and some other elements. And we believe that until you get that protective mission right, until you can say with confidence that you are the elite, the best at the zero-fail mission of protecting our nation's leaders, your attention needs to be focused on that.
MARTÍNEZ: Mark Filip and Janet Napolitano are part of a bipartisan independent commission that reviewed the failures of the Secret Service in the July attempted assassination of former President Trump. My thanks to you both.
FILIP: Thank you.
NAPOLITANO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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