On Friday September 27, 2024, Congressman Ralph Norman, R-S.C., issued this statement,
“The now TWO failures of the Secret Service to detect would-be-assassins on President Trump’s life is extremely alarming. Both attempted assassins should have been easily identified and dealt with IMMEDIATELY. I’m not exactly sure what went wrong here — that’s why the House is having a task force to look into it. I hope we can get to the bottom of it soon, before someone tries again. The Secret Service ought to be the most well-prepared, diligent, strong, and alert people in our country. To allow TWO assassination attempts to happen is unthinkable. Earlier this week, the House granted $231 million additional funds to the Secret Service, which will hopefully go towards bolstering their intelligence and preparedness.”
As a member of the powerful House Rules Committee, Congressman Norman and the Republican members of the committee, can accelerate legislative action. According to the Rules Committee’s website:
“The Rules Committee has two broad categories of jurisdiction: special orders for the consideration of legislation (known as "special rules" or "rules") and original jurisdiction matters. A special rule provides the terms and conditions of debate on a measure or matter, consideration of which constitutes the bulk of the work of the Rules Committee.”
In the first security failure, Thomas Crooks was able to fire eight shots before the Secret Service was able to kill him. In the second assassination attempt, Ryan Wesley Routh, according to his cell phone data, was staked out at Trump International Golf Club for 12 hours waiting for President Trump.
According to an interim report by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, “The United States Secret Service’s (USSS’) planning, communications, intelligence sharing, and related security failures in advance of and during July 13 directly contributed to Crooks’ ability to carry out the assassination attempt and kill and injure people in Butler, PA that day.”
This same interim report confirmed that:
“Three minutes before shots were fired, a local law enforcement officer sent out a radio alert that there was an individual on the AGR roof. This information was passed to the USSS Security Room approximately two minutes before Crooks fired. Approximately 22 seconds before Crooks fired, a local officer sent out a radio alert that the individual on the AGR roof was armed, but that was not relayed to key USSS personnel that the Committee spoke with.”
The Secret Service cannot afford to wait for eight shots to be fired before they can target an assassin. There was absolutely no excuse that the Secret Service not using shot detection technology.
In 2002, Congress passed the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies (SAFETY) Act to evaluate technology that could be used against terrorists. In May 2024, Databuoy Corporation’s SHOTPOINT product line achieved the Safety Act’s designation for all three scenarios: indoors, outdoors and detecting the vertical trajectory of a bullet.
When I recently interviewed Kathleen Griggs, the CEO of Databuoy, she was coincidentally in Dallas around the corner from the Grassy Knoll. As we discussed the Kennedy assassination, as well the two assassination attempts on President Trump, she said, “We are talking about this subject again over 60 years later. We now have a solution that can help mitigate this threat.”
The first assassination attempt on President Trump had preventable tactical and strategic failures, while the second assassination attempt was mostly a positional failure.
In chess, much like the Secret Service, the objective is to protect your king while defeating your opponent. The best chess players in history were excellent in both positional play as well as tactics.
In 2009, former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov (1985-2000) coached Magnus Carlsen for almost a year. Kasparov realized that Carlsen’s main weakness when he said, “He was uncomfortable in unbalanced positions.”
Kasparov primarily helped Carlsen by making him a better tactician. Magnus Carlsen has consistently been the highest rated player since 2011 and world champion for 10 years (2013-2023).
Shot detection technology can improve the tactics of the Secret Service while organizational changes can help improve its positional play.
When the Secret Service was established in 1865, its original mission was to investigate financial crimes. In 1901, the Secret Service was assigned to protect specific individuals and facilities after the assassination of President William McKinley.
After 9/11, the Secret Service was transferred from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security.
Congressman Richie Torres, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill that will return the mission of investigating financial crimes back to the Treasury Department. I think this will allow the Secret Service to focus on protection the same way grandmasters have dedicated their lives to chess.
The American people need to be eternally vigilant against these lunatics. The Secret Service cannot do this alone.
Robert Zapesochny is a researcher and writer whose work focuses on foreign affairs, national security and presidential history. He has been published in numerous outlets, including The American Spectator, the Washington Times, and The American Conservative. When he's not writing, Robert works for a medical research company in New York. Read Robert Zapesochny's Reports — More Here.
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