Washington, Sep 17 (IANS): Former US President Donald Trump has the highest levels of security, US Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe told reporters, crediting the agency with thwarting an alleged assassination attempt on the former President two days ago.
"The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former President, fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents. With reports of gunfire, the former President's close protection detail immediately evacuated the President to a safe location," Rowe said.
"The protective methodologies of the Secret Service were effective yesterday."
The comments come after the second assassination attempt against Trump within two months, after Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, lodged his rifle through the fence at a Florida course where Trump was golfing.
The incident comes as the Secret Service is under intense scrutiny of its practices after the prior assassination attempt in Butler, Pennyslvania, and as various GOP voices called on Monday for the agency to raise Trump's level of security up to that of President Joe Biden.
Rowe stressed that Trump is receiving the highest level of protection and that the system is working, crediting Biden's call for additional security of his then-campaign rival for aiding in thwarting the potential attack.
"The former President's protective apparatus allowed for the early identification of the threat and led to a safe evacuation. The increased assets directed by President Biden were in place yesterday," he said.
"There's a lot of tactical assets in place, things that have been put in place as a result of what happened 60 days ago. Those elements are working."
That includes bolstering what he described as a "layered approach to protection" that involved screening different points along the golf course before Trump's arrival.
"The agent who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth screen saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm," Rowe said, adding that Trump was still "several hundred yards and several holes away."
Nevertheless, the agency will no doubt face heat for initially failing to spot Routh until he was relatively close to the former President, given that he camped out in the area for about 12 hours before Trump arrived.
It remains unclear how Routh was aware of Trump's location, which was an "off the record" movement that was not on the former President's public schedule.
"The fact that they didn't know that person was there, and that they were there for as long as they were, raises some real concerns about how they're thinking about protecting the perimeter... which sometimes can come very close to the principle you're trying to protect," Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI, said during an appearance on CNN.
Rowe said the agency would rethink some aspects of its approach.
"We need to look at what our protective methodology is. We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model," he said, adding that the agency should prepare for "another geopolitical event" that could throw the US into conflict.
He likewise said the Secret Service is in the middle of discussions with lawmakers about their resource needs, saying the agency needs funding to support hiring additional agents.
"That requires us to be able to have the funding to be able to hire more people. You can't just give me money and say, 'Hey, we're going to make sure that everybody gets overtime.' Because the men and women of the Secret Service right now, we are redlining them," Rowe said.