How Secret Service DEI Nearly Got Trump Killed

• The Secret Service failed basic security measures relative to the Trump assassination attempt

• Many blame the agency’s DEI initiatives for its clumsy, uncoordinated response

• Criticism is significant of the female agent presence in Trump’s personal security detail

The story

The failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump at his campaign rally last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania caused serious concern among the press and the American people about the integrity of the United States Secret Service (USSS), as millions wonder how such a severe failure occurred.

Many on the right blame Secret Service DEI initiatives and call for USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation. A White House source claimed that top Biden aide Anthony Bernal, who advocated for Cheatle's appointment, “is obsessed with being DEI-compliant.” Commentators criticized the Secret Service’s goal of 30 percent female agents by 2030 — prioritizing diversity above security.

Reasons are layered and complex for the security failure that led to the near assassination of the former president and current Republican nominee, the severe injury of two bystanders, and the death of a father shielding his family. However, DEI immediately became an inflection point in the public discourse. Subsequently, Trump’s USSS detail at the Republican National Convention was beefed up — and all male.

The politics

Democrats and Republicans both denounced the assassination attempt, responding with multi-committee investigations in both houses of Congress. President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called for independent investigations.

Democrats and Republicans are not unified by typical culture war issues that polarize every crisis. A slew of right-leaning outlets and politicians jumped on DEI initiatives as the cause of the security failure, criticizing the ability of female agents to shield the 6’3” president from bullets. Cheatle was labeled a “diversity hire” by anti-woke billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman.

Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), called out the USSS, saying, “This is why the notion that men and women are the same is just absurd. You need to be taller than the candidate to protect them with your body.”

Former Attorney General Bill Barr added, “This DEI agenda and the destruction of meritocracy is affecting the competence levels of these agencies.”

Left-leaning Wired Magazine called criticism of DEI in the USSS “sexist” and highlighted the widespread presence online of memes about the assassination attempt. The magazine detailed the more misogynistic commentaries about female USSS agents which assert they are better suited as housewives.

TIME Magazine dismissed DEI concerns, expounding on the decades-long history of women in the USSS and Cheatle’s 28 years of service to the agency.

Beyond the headlines

The USSS was plagued by security failures and scandals long before Cheatle took the helm; from 2005-15, the USSS experienced 143 security breaches. USSS agents caused scandal after scandal, including harassment and assault of female agents, a child sex scandal, and a major scandal in Colombia involving 20 prostitutes.

The agency plans to increase diversity. A 2021 brochure featured three pages filled with managerial word salad about the importance of diversity and affirmative action for the agency’s future.

One of the brochure’s more coherent sentences clarifies the agency’s stance on DEI; the USSS will “be more responsive and better prepared to address the evolving security threats facing our nation’s leaders, financial systems, and critical infrastructure.” The pamphlet fails to explain how those outcomes will manifest through more diversity.

However, this latest USSS failure should not be reduced to DEI. There were fundamental failures in communication with local law enforcement.

The USSS tasked local police with monitoring the warehouse where the shooting took place. Twice, locals reported the gunman as a suspicious person nearly 30 minutes before the shooting, but they failed to apprehend him. The public was further dumbfounded by Cheatle’s excuse that the roof where the shooting took place was unmanned because the mild slope made it unsafe.

Former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, an expert in diplomatic security, blamed the failure on “bloated bureaucracy” and disorganization, saying USSS “failed at the basics of a secure perimeter and … their extraction [of Trump] was clumsy.”

Why it matters

The only thing that matters in an assassination attempt is the target’s safety. DEI initiatives will always lend doubt to the qualifications of populations benefiting from those policies, effectuating a lack of trust in public institutions.

Eliminating DEI in the USSS is not a panacea for the agency’s problems. But, if these policies cause even the slightest decrease in safety of public officials, they are an obstruction and should be eliminated.

The clumsy and incompetent response from the Secret Service last Saturday was truly shocking to most Americans who expect these agents to be the best in the world.

While numerous failures led to Donald Trump almost being killed, DEI played a demonstrable role, likely placing officers in position not for their strength and experience but because of less relevant characteristics.