Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said the agency must adjust to ward off “another geopolitical event” that could throw the United States into a “kinetic conflict.”
On Monday, acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe credited his agency with stopping another would-be assassin from taking a shot at former President Donald Trump on Sunday.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was only a few holes away from where Trump was golfing on a Florida course, allegedly poised for the second assassination attempt against the Republican nominee in months.
“The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former president, fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents,” Rowe reported.
“With reports of gunfire, the former president’s close protection detail immediately evacuated the president to a safe location.”
With Trump in heightened danger, Rowe said the agency would retool their approach to his protection.
“Coming out of Butler, I have ordered a paradigm shift,” he told reporters. “The Secret Service’s protective methodologies work, they are sound, and we saw that yesterday.”
Rowe said the way the agency is now positioned in a “dynamic threat environment” has allowed him to change their “protective methodology.”
“We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model,” he remarked. “There could be another geopolitical event that could put the United States into a kinetic conflict … that may result in additional responsibilities and protections of the Secret Service.”
Rowe noted that Trump has the highest level of protection and that what they have in place is working.
He also noted that President Biden’s order for Trump to get additional security helped fend off the attack.
“The former president’s protective apparatus allowed for the early identification of the threat and led to a safe evacuation,” Rowe noted. “The increased assets directed by President Biden were in place yesterday.”
“There’s a lot of tactical assets in place, things that have been put in place as a result of what happened 60 days ago,” he added. “Those elements are working.”
Rowe said that the Secret Service is taking a “layered approach to protection” which included scouting parts of the golf course ahead of Trump’s arrival.
“The agent who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth screen saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,” Rowe disclosed.
At that point, Trump was “several hundred yards and several holes away.”
What isn’t clear, is how Routh found out about Trump’s “off the record” location, and managed to stay hidden in the area for 12 hours prior to his arrival.
Rowe also added that the agency needs additional funding to hire more agents, as the ones they have on staff are already stretched thin.
“That requires us to be able to have the funding to be able to hire more people. You can’t just give me money and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to make sure that everybody gets overtime.’ Because the men and women of the Secret Service right now, we are redlining them,” Rowe stated.
Stopping “another” one? You didn’t stop the first one—
Maybe President Trump should hire his own protection to keep him safe from his Secret Service detail! This guy sounds like an absolute moron! Another DEI hire?!?!?
Mr Rowe needs to be investigated and imprisoned in a Federal Supermax. He’s already arranging for the next assassination attempt on President Trump.