An outside panel evaluating security breaches and cultural problems within the Secret Service recommended more training and staff, a higher fence around the White House and, most importantly, a new director from the outside who can change the agency’s insular culture.
Most of the panel’s report remains classified, but the Department of Homeland Security released an executive summary Thursday afternoon that found systemic and substantial problems with top brass at the Secret Service, an agency tasked with protecting the president, the first family, former presidents and dignitaries, as well as uncovering financial crimes.
“Of the many concerns the panel encountered, the question of leadership is, in our view, the most important,” the panel wrote in the report. “The panel 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,” they continue.
The panel concluded that the Secret Service needs strong, new leadership that can “drive change” within the organization.
Another common refrain from the nearly 50 Secret Service agents and officers the panel interviewed is that the agency is too insular. Throughout the majority of its nearly 149-year history, only once has the agency had a director from outside its ranks.
That must change if the agency is committed to reform and accountability, the panel said.
“Only a director from outside the Service, removed from organizational traditions and personal relationships will be able to do the honest top-to-bottom reassessment this will require,” they wrote.
The organization has a zero-failure mission, and must constantly improve and evolve to face changing threats, the report said. For the Secret Service to maintain its high standards, the organization needs to be assured that managers believe in the standards and “enforce them in a consistent, evenhanded manner.”
“These are not just morale issues, or issues of fairness or trust,” they wrote. “Accountability creates the culture of performance that the Secret Service needs to meet its zero-failure mission.”
While the panel stresses the need for strong new leadership, it also says additional resources and staff should be provided as soon as possible. The report recommends that the agency add at least 200 positions in the Uniformed Division, which is charged with security at the White House complex, and 85 in the Presidential Protective Division, who safeguard the president and the first family when they travel.
Officers in the uniformed division are working an “unsustainable number of hours,” the report found, often keeping them from much-needed training sessions.
Instead of developing better systems to more accurately reflect its staffing needs, the panel found that the agency has fallen back on giving existing employees more overtime.
“The Secret Service is stretched too [thin] and, in many cases, beyond its limits,” the report concludes.
The Presidential Protection Division, for instance, in years past once trained for two weeks out of eight. But in fiscal year 2013, the average agent received only forty-two hours of training, apart from firearms re-qualifications and basic career development technical requirements. Training for the Uniformed Division also has fallen to unacceptable levels, the report found.
When it comes to improving the fence, the panel declined to make precise recommendations but broadly said the agency should explore some “common-sense improvements” such as increasing the height by four or five feet; eliminating horizontal bars, which make it easier to climb; and including an outward curvature at the top of the fence to make scaling it more difficult.
“Any of the adjustments, the panel is certain, can be made without diminishing the aesthetic beauty or historic character of the White House grounds,” they wrote.
Johnson appointed the outside panel in the early fall after a number of security failures came to light, including a man jumping the White House fence and penetrating the ceremonial heart of the White House and another, and another first reported by the Washington Examiner, involving a breach of protocol when an armed security guard shared an elevator with Obama.
Panelists include Tom Perrelli, a former associate attorney general; Mark Filip, a former deputy attorney general and former U.S. District Court judge; Danielle Gray, a former Cabinet affairs secretary and assistant to the president; and Joseph Hagin, a former White House deputy chief of staff for operations.
In releasing the report, Johnson called the recommendations “astute, thorough and fair,” and said some of the improvements at the agency have already begun.
Johnson also pointedly noted that some of the panel’s recommendations are similar to others made in past agency reviews that were never implemented. He placed the onus on the Secret Service and himself to ensure the reforms take place.
“This time must be different,” he said. “The Secret Service must commit to change.”
Earlier in an interview Thursday, Johnson said the report uncovered deep-seated problems that the agency won’t be able to fix quickly.
“This is not something, in my judgment, based on the recommendations I’ve seen, that can change overnight,” Johnson told MSNBC Thursday. “There are more fundamental, systemic issues with the Secret Service that I think need to be addressed and cannot be addressed overnight.”
Both Johnson and White House press secretary Josh Earnest Thursday said they believe the Secret Service is doing an excellent job in keeping the president and the first family safe.
“Let’s not forget that the Secret Service is the finest protection service in the world,” Johnson said.
“The president does have confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service,” Earnest added. “They are dedicated professionals that put their lives on the line every day to protect the president, the first family and all of us.”
The panel, which also interviewed 120 experts inside and outside government, earned high praise from some recent critics of the agency. Ron Kessler, the author of several books on the Secret Service, including his recently released “First Family Detail,” said the report was right on the mark.
“[It] hit all the right notes,” Kessler said. “The need for a strong leader from outside the agency who will impose accountability being the most important. While the panel recommended a minimal increase in agents and uniformed officers, it proposed larger increases in the future. The panel’s criticism of the Secret Service as insular is especially important.”
Given the FBI’s success in thwarting attacks on U.S. soil, Kessler argues that a former high-ranking FBI official would be an ideal choice to change the agency’s “lax management culture that has led to these problems that threaten the president’s life.”
Incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who led the charge for more scrutiny of the Secret Service over the last year, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking member of the panel, issued a joint statement Thursday thanking the panel for its hard work.
They also announced a series of bipartisan investigations in the new year that will explore the issues raised in the report.
“The investigation will examine security breaches that have recently been publicly reported, as well as focus on overall leadership, staffing, culture, protocol, technology, tactics and training issues,” they said.
Earlier Thursday, Earnest said he doesn’t have a timeline for an announcement of a new permanent Secret Service director. The agency’s former director, Julia Pierson, stepped down in October after several security breaches came to light and halting testimony before Congress. Obama then appointed Joseph Clancy as acting director. Clancy headed the agency’s presidential protection division for several years before becoming director of corporate security for Comcast.
