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Secret Service chief warns of Trump shooting report’s “impact on agency morale” in message to staff
Washington — Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe told his workforce on Thursday that he is “deeply concerned” about the impact that an independent review panel’s findings about the July assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump will have on the agency’s morale, according to a copy of the internal message obtained by CBS News.
In an email to Secret Service employees, Rowe said that he has convened teams to discuss the findings of the bipartisan four-member panel. The report concluded that the agency suffers from “deep flaws” and called for it to undergo “fundamental reform” to carry out its mission of protecting top government officials around the world, including the sitting and former U.S. presidents.
The review, conducted at the direction of President Biden, was at times a scathing rebuke of the Secret Service and its culture. The panel’s members said there must be an overhaul of Secret Service leadership and a refocusing on its “core protective mission” to mitigate the issues it identified.
“While I believe that the intention behind the panel’s recommendations is to improve the focus and performance of the Secret Service, I am deeply concerned about the unintended impact on agency morale, especially as so many of you are working extremely long hours, spending weeks away from your families, and giving so much to this agency and its mission,” Rowe said in the message addressed to the Secret Service’s workforce.
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In the wake of the July 13 assassination attempt at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Secret Service boosted protection for the major presidential and vice presidential candidates. Rowe had previously warned that the agency’s “finite” resources are being stretched to their maximum.
The acting Secret Service chief also told agency employees that he has “reservations” about some of the panel’s recommendations, specifically those regarding a reorganization that would elevate the Office of Protective Operations, essentially demoting the Office of Investigations and other divisions.
In 1865, the Secret Service was formed to curb rampant counterfeiting and restore trust in the nation’s financial system. The agency moved from the Department of Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security following a post-9/11 restructuring, and its investigative arm has evolved to probe cases spanning from sophisticated ransomware attacks and identity fraud to money laundering.
But the panel noted its “extreme skepticism” that many of the Secret Service’s investigative missions “meaningfully contribute” to its protective capability and “may materially distract from it.”
“These are significant points that deserve careful consideration and discussion, particularly with those of you who are directly working within those spheres every day,” Rowe wrote.
The acting director said the Secret Service is taking the panel’s findings seriously.
The attack at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally placed the Secret Service under significant scrutiny, particularly regarding how gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to gain access to a rooftop so close to where the former president was speaking.
Trump and two others were wounded in the shooting, and one rally attendee was killed.
The independent review panel is one of several groups investigating the shooting, joining the FBI, congressional committees and a bipartisan House task force. Its four members said in a letter accompanying their report that they identified “numerous mistakes” that led to the assassination attempt, as well as “deeper system issues that must be addressed with urgency.”
“The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission,” the members said. “Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again.”
CBS News
Paris Hilton’s bill to protect minors at residential treatment facilities heads to president’s desk
Heiress, model and actor Paris Hilton is the force behind a bill headed to President Biden’s desk that’s aimed at preventing the abuse of minors at rehab and other residential facilities.
The House passed the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act in a bipartisan 373-33 vote Wednesday, after the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent earlier in the week. It’s a cause that’s personal to Hilton, who says she was abused at residential treatment facilities as a teen. Hilton lived in a series of residential treatment facilities from the age of 16, testifying before Congress in June that she had been violently restrained, stripped of clothing and tossed into solitary confinement, among other experiences.
“Today is a day I will never forget,” Hilton wrote on Instagram. “After years of sharing my story and advocating on Capitol Hill, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act has officially passed the U.S Congress. This moment is proof that our voices matter, that speaking out can spark change, and that no child should ever endure the horrors of abuse in silence. I did this for the younger version of myself and the youth who were senselessly taken from us by the Troubled Teen Industry.”
Now 43, Hilton has championed child protection legislation on Capitol Hill for years, encouraging lawmakers to pass regulations to help protect troubled teens from abuse at treatment centers. Hilton met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, urging them to take up the legislation before the 118th Congress ends.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the legislation in the House and Senate, and they were joined by Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Tommy Tuberville and Republican Rep. Buddy Carter.
“Children across the country are at risk of abuse and neglect due to a lack of transparency in institutional youth treatment programs,” Khanna said in a statement. “The industry has gone unchecked for too long. Paris Hilton and other survivors of abuse in this broken system have bravely shared their stories and inspired change. I’m proud to lead this legislation with my colleagues to protect the safety and well-being of kids.”
The legislation creates a federal work group on youth residential programs to oversee the health, safety, care, treatment and placement of minors in rehab and other facilities. It also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to make contact with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to make recommendations about state oversight of such programs.
Hilton is the great-grandaughter of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels.
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The Biden administration is beginning to retaliate against China for its sweeping hack of U.S. telecommunications companies earlier this year.
Last week the Commerce Department issued a notice to China Telecom Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of one of China’s largest communications firms, alleging in a preliminary finding that its presence in American telecom networks and cloud services poses a national security risk. The company has 30 days to respond, although the Commerce Department has not said what action it plans to take next.
The New York Times was the first to report the action, which is a direct response to China’s infiltration of telecom networks earlier this year. The China-backed hacking group known as Salt Typhoon penetrated the networks of numerous companies including Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told to CBS News in October.
It’s unclear what the impact on China Telecom would be, since the FCC has already limited China Telecom Americas’ ability to operate in U.S. communications infrastructure. In October 2021, the FCC revoked its license to provide phone services in the US.
The FCC found that China Telecom “is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight.”
China Telecom Americas has not responded to requests for comment.
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials are continuing to try to learn more about the scope of the hack, which targeted U.S. surveillance capabilities used for operations including wiretaps. U.S. intelligence officials routinely seek court authorization to use telecom systems like those targeted in the breach to collect information for law enforcement or national security probes.
One fear is that the cyberattacks could have allowed the hackers to access information about ongoing U.S. investigations — including those tied to China — through the collection of sensitive data and techniques.
China’s incursions into U.S. critical infrastructure — including water treatment plants and the electrical grid — have lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the incoming Trump administration warning of a more aggressive retaliatory posture going forward.
Rep. Mike Waltz, designated by President-elect Trump to be national security adviser, told Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” Sunday, “We need to start going on offense and start imposing, I think, higher costs and consequences to private actors and nation state actors that continue to steal our data, that continue to spy on us.”
Last month, Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut and the ranking on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a similar warning.
“We’re not just going to name and shame,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “We are going to go into their networks and give as good as we got.”