Questions About Negligence: USSS, FBI, Police & the Protection of Bystanders & Public Officials
July 15, 2024•312 words
"I have complete confidence in Secret Service. These guys and gals are unbelievably professional. They know what they’re doing and I basically do what they tell me to do. Now, sometimes I’m the first one to admit that it chafes a little bit being inside this bubble. It’s the hardest adjustment of being president, not being able to just take a walk." ~ Barack Obama
"The Secret Service is a strange group. They don't really have a leader. It's not set up like a military. Each one is supposed to be able to act like a leader when something comes up." ~ Val Kilmer
The Secret Service (USSS) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. It mainly protects the President, Vice President, and other important people. In addition to protecting them, the Secret Service investigates and fights financial crimes like counterfeiting and fraud.
The agency was set up in 1865 to tackle fake money. Over time, its role expanded to protect the President after President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Nowadays, the Secret Service has a double mission of protecting top-level politicians and investigating, using various tactics and technologies to keep its politicians safe and fight financial crimes.
If that was indeed the case, why were the USSS, SWAT teams, local police, and the FBI all notified and watching as the 20-year-old shooter carried a high-powered AR-15 automatic rifle? He was bear-crawling up a building roof while bystanders were informing law enforcement that there was a man with a rifle on the roof, setting up a position capable of instantly killing a mature 1300-pound moose from four football fields away. The situation raises questions about negligence, leading to the unusual scenario where the USSS and the FBI investigate their actions. One bystander killed and multiple injured people, including the former President of the USA.