Agency did not update threat policies after encountering drone incidents
The U.S. Secret Service handled several drone-related incidents without adjusting its protection policies or documenting why it did not, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. The findings detail delays and gaps in how the agency updates its policies on emerging threats, and arrive after a period that included several additional security incidents.
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, examined the Secret Service’s process for revising threat-response policies. According to the report, the agency encountered drone incidents before the Butler attack and did not update its policies in response. The report also found that the Secret Service did not document the reasoning behind those decisions.
The findings could have helped illustrate the threat from civilian drones before one was used in the 2024 assassination attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the report said. In that attack, a gunman positioned himself on a roof that had been left unsecured and struck Trump’s ear with a bullet.
The report arrives after additional security incidents involving Trump. Months after the Butler attempt, a man armed with a rifle approached Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course. In April, an armed man got beyond security barriers at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where Trump sat.
The GAO released the report on Thursday, documenting the agency’s handling of drone incidents, its policy-update process, and the post-Butler-incident findings the watchdog identified.