Unless someone is assassinated, there will be no overhaul within the Secret Service, according to Secret Service expert Ron Kessler, who with former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz appeared Tuesday on
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
"I mean this is a really, really an agency that really is headed towards an assassination," he said. "I'm afraid the only way there will be a correction is if there's an assassination."
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The men discussed the recent knife-wielding
White House intruder who made his way through the front door of the building before being apprehended.
"The secret service uniformed officers were either asleep or not paying attention and then when they failed to unleash dogs to take down the intruder, they should've taken out the guy before he got in the White House because he could've had concealed weapons of mass destruction, he could've had a concealed bomb," said Kessler, who is the author of "The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents."
"You simply cannot wait until a guy gets in the White House to find out if he's going to blow it up and you know, in this case the president had just left, but he could've decided to come back and just the fact that he was running into the White House meant he was a threat and the Secret Service, under court rulings, has wider latitude to use deadly force than other law enforcement agencies because that's the only way you're going to protect the president."
Fleitz said he was "flabbergasted" that the Secret Service allowed the incident to occur.
The massive "corner cutting" within the Secret Service, according to Kessler, has resulted in dozens of examples of endangering the president. And the agency's problems are so deep-seated that unless an outside director is appointed, the status quo will remain.
Kessler cited several examples of the Secret Service falling down on the job, such as allowing
reality TV stars into a State Dinner and agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia.
The Secret Service also does not stay current with firearms and does not require firearms requalification.
"As long as President Obama defends the director, defends the Secret Service, no changes will be made," Kessler said. "The only solution is if the president wises up and appoints an outside director who has no allegiance to the agency and can shake things up."
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