Secret Service officials are strained and stretched “to the breaking point” as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final month, according to a report.
Growing workloads and staff shortfalls have left the agency in “a state of crisis,” a dozen current and former USSS agents told NBC.
“The US Secret Service is killing their people, and worse they are supposed to have a zero-fail protective mission on zero rest/sleep,” one former agent told the network. “I love my agency but they are setting themselves up for another incident.”
The agency has come under tremendous scrutiny after security failures in July allowed a 20-year-old gunman to fire eight bullets at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pa. A second assassination attempt in Florida was also only narrowly thwarted by the agency in September.
Though the service hired 1,099 employees in fiscal year 2024, it takes years to train any single one for high level assignments.
In the meantime, attrition has taken a major toll as law enforcement agencies across the country battle with low morale, NBC reported.
“The increasing demand placed on the agency during this dynamic threat environment has resulted in our people being pushed to the limit,” said USSS spox Anthony Guglielmi, admitting the difficulties. “We recognize that this is not sustainable, and we cannot risk another mission failure.”
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