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At a recent church service, a close family member (an avid Trump supporter) told me that the President-elect should clean house at the US Secret Service and staff it with vetted and loyal special agents.
His comment surprised me, a former Secret Service special agent. I spent the entire church service thinking about how misguided and unfortunate any attempt to do so was Politicize the Secret Service would be. But I also thought about ways Trump could refocus and energize a beleaguered agency.
Here are a few ways Trump could do this without being political.
Former President Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents after being shot during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
REMOVE THE OFFICIAL PROTECTIONS
I have worked with some amazing and incredible people during my time in the Secret Service. I worked with Ivy League graduates, Division I and professional athletes, and former members of the Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Delta Force. Every day, I witnessed my colleagues making great sacrifices to ensure the safety of America’s elected leaders.
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The recruitment and selection criteria are strict, but like any other organization the Secret Service hiring individuals of the human race. Sometimes officers fall asleep on duty or negligently discharge firearms. Some do not meet minimum firearms requalifications. Some cannot pass their physical tests. These incidents are rare, but they happen
If Delta Force or Seal Team 6 have staffing issues, they can fire individuals for “not meeting standards.” The US Secret Service cannot do this. All special agents are federal employees with civil protection. They cannot be fired or removed without cause. And the removal process for federal employees can take months or years.
This process was clearly visible during the July 2024 Congressional hearings after the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., repeatedly asked U.S. Secret Service Director Ron Rowe whether the special agent in charge of the site had been “relieved” or whether the agents involved in the rally’s protective march had been fired .
But the bottom line is that even if mistakes were made that led to the near-catastrophic assassination of Trumpthe officers involved are entitled to civil service protection, under federal labor rules.
However, President Trump could sign an executive order exempting Secret Service members from existing civil service rules, allowing for immediate dismissal for “failure to maintain standards.”
I am not saying that special agents should be summarily dismissed from federal service for any offense. Guardrails can be installed. For example, if an agent fails in the protective mission, the order could force the Secret Service to clearly demonstrate, using existing legal burdens such as beyond a reasonable doubt, why the agent should be removed.
The Secret Service’s protective mission is critical to our nation’s national security. It is the basis on which the rest of our free democracy functions. Presidents should feel free to make national security decisions based on their own judgment. Starting with this fundamental point: the Secret Service cannot fail in its protective mission.
RAISE THE STANDARDS
During my time in the Secret Service, the Counter Assault Team (CAT) was the only special agent assignment that had a rigorous selection process, including physical fitness, firearms, and tactical assessment. In addition, CAT selection and basic courses had a very high turnover. Pass the physical and tactical assessments and move on. Fail and you go back to your previous assignment
No such training requirements existed for presidential protective detail (PPD) or vice presidential detail (VPD) training. PPD had no standards, physical or otherwise, to join or stay with that mission. The selection for PPD or VPD was often a patronage selection, and the protective training was an introductory course rather than a rigorous mental, physical or tactical challenge.
If they haven’t already done so, the Secret Service should make protective detail training extremely challenging and difficult, with strict firearms and physical fitness standards. Those who do not meet the strict standards must be reassigned.
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Reassign the research role
Those in favor of Secret Service maintenance of an investigative profile argue that this is where junior special agents learn the basics of law enforcement, interviewing skills, reading human behavior, conducting surveillance, etc., before applying these skills during protective missions.
I worked with dozens of agents when I was assigned to the Washington field office, which rarely, if ever, conducted an investigation. Some of these officers now hold senior management positions within the agency, including high-level protection assignments.
But investigating financial crimes, as the Secret Service does, rarely requires the skills of a street cop. Rarely will an investigation lead to chasing a suspect down the street or drawing a firearm. Second, officers simply don’t conduct enough research to truly learn those skills. Third, agents do not learn how to protect the president by conducting investigations. They learn protection by doing it.
The The Secret Service must give up its investigative role to the Treasury Department or to the dozen or more federal agencies investigating the same financial crimes. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswany should note that there is a lot of overlap between federal law enforcement agencies. Reassigning investigations would give officers room to train more to focus on protection.
A Secret Service agent stands guard as President Biden sits in the presidential SUV after arriving at the Delaware National Guard Air Base in New Castle, Delaware, on June 18, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
Here’s something else Elon and Vivek should note. Why so many field offices around the world? Does the Secret Service really need two field offices in Oklahoma? Or three in South Carolina? Keep the main major regional offices, LA, Dallas, Miami and of course Washington DC, and focus on protection.
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The Secret Service is the most elite protection organization in the world and is always staffed by highly competent agents. Every protection organization in the world has modeled its protection protocols after the Secret Service. Director Rowe has acknowledged that mistakes were made in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he is making great progress in his efforts to fix what went wrong to ensure it never happens again.
But remember something else about Butler. All agents (en uniformed division counter-snipers) assigned to the Butler Trump rally responded immediately when he heard the sound of gunshots. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives regardless of who they voted for. So yes, refocus and activate this beleaguered organization, but ensure that the Secret Service remains a professional and apolitical organization.
