The U.S. Secret Service counter-sniper teams are drastically understaffed and are using overtime and less qualified marksmen to fill gaps in a security crisis that threatens the lives of those it protects, the Homeland Security Department's internal watchdog starkly warned Tuesday.
The report released by Inspector General Joseph Cufari is the latest signal that the agency that protects the president and vice president is still dealing with legacy shortcomings and strategic failures that were first exposed by the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"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 starkly warned. "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."
