DHS watchdog finds Secret Service counter sniper team chronically understaffed
The internal watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the first of several reports evaluating the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) in the wake of the attempted assassination of President Trump in Pennsylvania last year, determining its counter sniper team is chronically understaffed.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) said the report is the first of five reviewing the attempt on Trump’s life during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., focusing on the fitness of the USSS counter sniper team to respond to threats at events.
“The United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) Counter Sniper Team (CS) is staffed 73 percent below the level necessary to meet mission requirements,” the report concluded. “Failure to appropriately staff CS could limit the Secret Service’s ability to properly protect our Nation’s most senior leaders, risking injury or assassination, and subsequent national-level harm to the country’s sense of safety and security.”
“Given its chronic understaffing, CS relied on overtime and leveraged personnel from other Department of Homeland Security components to meet mission requirements,” the watchdog added.
USSS did not dispute the conclusion of the report.
The agency has been heavily scrutinized since shooter Thomas Matthew Crook was able to scale a building outside of the security perimeter at the Butler rally, firing off multiple shots, killing Trump supporter Corey Comperatore and striking Trump’s ear before being killed by a sniper.
The report details that USSS has routinely relied on overtime and personnel from other DHS agencies in order to have sufficient staffing, including for the campaign season and the 2025 Inauguration. Last year alone, counter snipers worked nearly 60,000 hours of overtime to meet USSS needs for its protectees.
The review also found that some snipers had not completed the latest testing requirements yet were still used for coverage for events.
“Some counter snipers did not meet mandatory weapons requalification requirements. Counter snipers who missed mandatory weapons requalification sessions (i.e., retesting their ability to shoot accurately in the daytime and at night), nonetheless supported 47 of the 426 events (11 percent) attended by protectees in calendar year 2024,” the watchdog found.
Counter snipers employed by the Secret Service cannot be directly hired for that role but must first serve as an agent for two years. While that process has recently been shortened to 18 months, OIG said that delay — as well as the prohibition on hiring military snipers — limits the pool of potential candidates.