Washington: Former US President Donald Trump was fatally attacked during a rally. There was a serious lapse in Trump’s security at the rally. The investigation has revealed the failures of the intelligence service. This was revealed in a bipartisan Senate investigation released on Wednesday. A gunman opened fire at the rally in which Trump was injured. Similar to the agency’s own internal investigation and the bipartisan investigation going on in the House, the interim report of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has also found many failures at almost every level before the shooting in Pennsylvania. These failures include planning, communication, security and allocation of resources.
There was no coordination between security agencies
“The consequences of the failures were catastrophic,” said Michigan Senator Gary Peters, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Investigators found there was no coordination between the Secret Service and other security agencies. There was no plan for a security perimeter around the building where the attacker climbed up to open fire. Officers were working on several different radio channels, which caused communication disruptions. An inexperienced drone operator working on a helpline was unable to work properly due to a glitch in equipment. Peters said communication among security officials was minimal.
The secret service was informed
The report found that the Secret Service was informed about a person on the roof of the building about two minutes before the attacker Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire. Crooks fired eight bullets in Trump’s direction. The attacker was less than 150 yards from where the former president was giving a speech. Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential candidate for 2024, was hit in the ear by a bullet or bullet fragment in the assassination attempt. One person attending the rally was killed and two others were injured. The attacker was later killed by a Secret Service sniper.
The information did not reach the intelligence service
The report found that about 22 seconds before Crooks opened fire, a local official sent a radio alert that an armed man was present in the building. But this information was not passed on to the key intelligence service personnel interviewed by Senate investigators. The committee also questioned an intelligence service sniper, who said he saw officers running with their guns pointed toward the building where the attacker was, but the person said he did not think to inform anyone to get Trump off the stage. (Language)
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