Whether the U.S. Secret Service is “on the right track” following planned and implemented changes after the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump is still unclear, said one lawmaker who is part of the special task force convened to probe the Pennsylvania attack.
Thursday’s hearing in Washington, D.C. — where acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe promised the agency is focusing more on training, among other “reorganizing and reimagining” alterations — was the culmination of the congressional task force’s four-month investigation into what happened during the July assassination attempt and how it can be fixed, said Rep. Lou Correa, a member of the task force.
But the work isn’t done, the Orange County Democrat said.
There’s likely a new Secret Service director who will step into the role with the incoming Trump administration, Correa said, and the committee will want to ensure that person is “also on the same page with us, Congress, when fixing these problems.”
“Whether (the Secret Service) is on the right track or not remains to be seen,” said Correa, calling it a “trust but verify situation.”
Congress allocated some $231 million to the Secret Service in September for more personnel, training and equipment — but Correa also wants to see morale among agents boosted.
“Can you get back the esprit de corps?” Correa said he asked Rowe. “When you talk to Secret Service agents, they’re all demoralized, they’re all depressed.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Rowe acknowledged that the agency had “lost” a culture where agents felt they could speak up if they felt something was not right.
“We have to get back to that,” Rowe said.
Trump was injured during the assassination attempt at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One rally attendee was killed in the shooting, and the 20-year-old gunman was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Correa, who was named to the bipartisan task force in late July, has said he hoped Congress could determine where the security lapses occurred. He wants the task force, he has said, to “develop policy solutions to ensure we never face a close call like that again.”
After Thursday’s hearing, the second public hearing held by the task force, Correa said it’s lawmakers’ job to ask of the agency, “What in God’s name is going on?”
The task force is slated to release a report on its findings by Dec. 13 — but Correa said lawmakers must continue to ensure the Secret Service is making strides in improvements even after that deadline.
“We’re not going to back off and say we had a four-month-long investigation,” Correa said. “We intend to continue to be on top of this effort. We intend to follow up sometime early next year.”
“It’s an honor to be working with these guys and to be fixing the Secret Service,” he added. “These are the guardians of democracy, and they make sure it’s the voters, not an assassin, who decide who the next president is going to be.”
Trump has not yet named who his pick is to lead the Secret Service.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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