Written by by ROBERT MCGREEVY at dailycaller.com
Leadership that completely ignores field agent concerns, combined with inconsistent communication protocols and a lack of preparation, lead to outcomes like the Secret Service’s failures on Jan. 6, 2021, former agents told the Daily Caller.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report July 31 detailing the agency’s performance on the day of the Capitol riot. A fundamental breakdown in inter-agency correspondence led to disparities in intelligence gathering and coordination between the agency and the United States Capitol Police (USCP), the former agents said.
“The bottom line that caused it all is, whether it’s a combination of the Capitol Police and the Secret Service or ultimately, the entity responsible for protection, were not prepared, or did not anticipate accurately, the necessary manpower,” former Secret Service agent Dean Peterson told the Caller. “Because of it, they were kind of caught off guard, and that led to some poor, in-the-moment decisions.”
The potential for chaos was obvious, however, according to Peterson, which render the mishaps “inexcusable.”
“I’m shocked, I guess, by what the intelligence community may or may not be communicating. I would think … you don’t need to be a part of these things and have intimate knowledge to have this perspective of like, ‘Wow, this is an unusual election circumstance,’” Peterson said.
The Secret Service said they fully cooperated with the OIG and have “taken steps to implement the majority of the recommendations” in the report, according to a statement they provided to the Daily Caller.
“The United States Secret Service (USSS) has a no-fail mission to protect our nation’s leaders. The actions taken by our agents on January 6, 2021 demonstrated their dedication to preventing harm to Secret Service protectees and assisting the U.S. Capitol Police,” the agency said. “We are continually improving protectee operations and benefit from oversight and investigations”
One example of the agency’s shortcomings was allowing Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to come within 20 feet of a pipe bomb at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) building in Washington, D.C, the OIG report notes.