The Director of the US Secret Service resigned today. Given the climate of the times, she had no option.
I saw some excerpts of Kimberly Cheatle’s testimony before a Congressional committee investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, an act that took place ten days ago. Given the political bent of the website I was on, I expect I saw Cheatle at her worst.
Which to me wasn’t bad at all. Yes, she declined to give detailed answers. She had no choice. Are American lawmakers too stupid to realize that you do not reveal the composition of a security detail? That sort of information makes it a lot easier for the bad guys.
Did the Secret Service fail in its protection effort? Definitely, There is no disputing that, even from the Secret Service. But it is ridiculous to expect complete details, publicly, so soon after the event.
Procedures and policies are being examined and overhauled. Once again though, those are not the sort of things you want to make public. The idea is to make it tougher for would-be assassins, not easier.
I’m not sure changing leadership helps make things better, even if it makes some politicians happier. At this point we don’t know if the failure was at the organizational level or solely the responsibility of the agents on the ground.
Will a new Director be able to ascertain that? How does this change in leadership during an election campaign affect Secret Service morale?
Cheatle heeded the calls to step down. Maybe, given the enormity of the situation, it was the right thing to do. Certainly she would have done so if the assassin had been successful. And it didn’t seem like there was any opportunity for rational discussion of what happened, at least not at the political level. Maybe such a thing is impossible in the US these days.
What I saw looked like an attempt by Congress to score some political points rather than work together to find out what happened – and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
And, given that it is the United States, it is a certainty that someone will try again.
random thoughts from lorne 
Definitely a political point scoring exercise – and, I would say, a bit of a show. It should have been clear to everyone there that Cheatle cannot reveal details about Secret Service operations without compromising security.
This may be my last comment for a while since I am no longer visiting my 95-year-old uncle and involuntarily watching CNN 24-7. The latter is a good thing. I am going back to my usual news black-out policy, election or no election. Let me know if anything earth-shattering happens.