In the wake of incident this fall where a man jumped fence guarding the perimeter of the White House and gained entry into the Executive Mansion, the Secret Service needs new leadership, says a report by an independent panel established by the Department of Homeland Security to review White House security.
The panel says that through its review it found that leadership of the Secret Service is the most important concern, adding that it “found an organization starved for leadership that rewards innovation and excellence and demands accountability. From agents to officers to supervisors, we heard a common desire: More resources would help, but what we really need is leadership.”
The panel also says that the next leader of the Secret Service should come from outside the agency and needs to be someone “strong” that can “drive change within the organization.” It also says the protective service is “too insular” and needs to listen to others outside the agency.
“Only a director from outside the Secret Service, removed from organizational traditions and personal relationships, will be able to do the honest top-to-bottom reassessment this will require.”
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson released the unclassified executive summary of the panel’s report and called its recommendations “astute, thorough and fair.” Johnson said in a statement that it’s up to DHS and the Secret Services to consider all the recommendations, some of which have been made in the past but not implemented.”
“This time must be different,” Johnson said. “The Secret Service itself must commit to change.”
The panel also says that the leadership of the Secret Service needs to be diversified to include managers from outside the agency and people with backgrounds such as “special agent or law enforcement training, and those with other professional backgrounds.”
The agency is currently being led by an acting director, Joe Clancy.
Beyond stronger and more accountable leadership, the Secret Service also needs additional resources, the panel recommends.
“The Secret Service is stretched to and, in many cases, beyond its limits,” the report says.
Agents protecting the White House are at their posts too long and “work an unsustainable number of hours,” the report says. Uniformed officers and agents need more training and their current “regiment has diminished fare below acceptable levels,” it says.
“In FY 2013, Service data shows that the Uniformed Division as a whole received 576 hours of training, or about 25 minutes for each of over 1300 Uniformed Division officers,” the report says.
The Secret Service simply needs more agents and officers, the report says, adding that for years it has taken on more missions without additional resources.
The Secret Service also lacks the right data to make the best budgetary decisions, the report says, meaning “no one has really looked at how much the mission, done right, actually costs.”
The panel recommends an additional 285 agents and officers for starters to boost training and personnel for White House security.
The panel also recommends that the White House fence be replaced quickly, saying it is too easy to climb over. It doesn’t prescribe what changes should be made although it suggests that the seven and a half-foot fence should be higher and even curved outward at the top.
The Secret Service also needs to review “its technological footprint” and needs “dedicated funds for technology, both within its won budget and within DHS Science & Technology’s budget, to accomplish these tasks: Technology systems used on the complex must always remain on the cutting edge, and the Service must invest in technology, including becoming a driver of research and development that may assist in its mission.”
In addition to the findings of the independent panel, a DHS panel that investigated the Sept. 19 fence jumping issued its report in November. That report cited a number of shortcoming in training, staffing decisions, communication, intelligent and database interoperability at the Secret Service (Defense Daily, Nov. 14).
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement on Thursday that the report by the independent panel is a “good start,” but the Secret Service needs to “prioritize reforms in these tight budgetary times.”
McCaul in November introduced legislation calling for an independent, bipartisan review of the Secret Service.