The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report stating that the U.S. Secret Service, responsible for the president's security, has faced issues such as slow policy updates and incomplete records after handling multiple security incidents over the past decade. At the time of the report's release, the Secret Service has been under external pressure in recent years due to security lapses related to Trump.
83 security incidents occurred within ten years.
The report shows that between 2015 and 2025, the Secret Service handled a total of 83 security incidents, but only adjusted its protection policies for 25 of them. The Government Accountability Office believes that the issue lies not just in whether the policies were changed, but also in the Secret Service's failure to fully document the reasons for not making any adjustments.
The report specifically mentions the risks associated with drones. In 2015, a drone came into contact with the convoy of then-President Obama; in another incident, a drone flew about 60 meters above a rally held by then-President-elect Bernie Sanders. The Government Accountability Office stated that these cases are sufficient to demonstrate that the threat posed by drones has long existed, yet the relevant lessons learned were not incorporated into subsequent policy updates.
The report mentions the Butler shooting incident.
The report indicates that some of the missing information is related to subsequent attacks. Taking the Butler shooting incident in Pennsylvania as an example, the suspect operated a drone over the scene for about 11 minutes to observe the crowd and the environment, which helped him choose the shooting location. In this case, Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet.
In addition to the Butler incident, the report also mentioned that a few months later, another armed man approached Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. In April of this year, an armed man also breached the security perimeter of a White House press dinner, with the president also present at the time.
Some security documents have not been updated for many years.
The Government Accountability Office also found that among the 22 protection policies of the Secret Service, 8 had not been updated within the prescribed 4-year period. At the same time, the memorandum of understanding regarding the division of responsibilities for the president's overseas security between the Secret Service and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security has not been updated since 1991, despite relevant regulations requiring annual reviews and revisions.
The report indicates that this long-unupdated document does not cover newer types of threats such as drones. Nathan Tranquilli, the acting head of the Government Accountability Office, stated that the Secret Service is tasked with a 'zero-error mission,' but due to the allocation of resources and efforts, some issues that needed to be addressed were put on hold, ultimately leading to delays.
The report states that the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for overseeing the Secret Service, has agreed to all the recommendations and plans to proceed with the corrective measures. As of the time of publication, the Secret Service has not immediately responded to requests for comment.
