Secret Service Director Acknowledges Major Security Breach Since Reagan's 1981 Shooting

It is reported that US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle described the recent assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump as probably the largest security breach since the shooting of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Ms. Cheatle made the admission while testifying before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which put her through a grueling session of questioning by lawmakers, including Indian American Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Ro Khanna.

In particular, Khanna called for Cheatle to resign, citing historical precedent where then-Secret Service head Stewart Knight resigned after the 1981 incident. It is serious business, he said, when an assassination attempt is made against any president or former president or candidate, and if that's not checked properly, there needs to be accountability at the top.

In response to the questions from Krishnamoorthi and other members, Cheatle admitted that this was a very severe security lapse and accepted full responsibility for the incident. She pledged to investigate full circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt and to implement measures so that such an incident never occurred in the future.

Krishnamoorthi continued to question Cheatle on details of the security response to the rally where the incident took place, asking specifically about the timing of the alerts and actions of Secret Service personnel. Cheatle stated that investigations into communication protocols and decision-making processes were currently underway as relevant to that event.

The Secret Service now also admits that in the run-up to the incident, prior requests for security enhancements by Trump's campaign were turned down—pointing to continuous scrutiny and investigations into operational procedures of the agency.

This attempt on Trump's life is an extremely serious security lapse and calls for accountability and comprehensive reforms within the US Secret Service to rectify failures so that situations of this nature are never repeated with presidential figures in the future.