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Jilly_in_VA

(14,553 posts) Mon May 4, 2026, 11:16 AM 10 hrs ago

Outside probe needed of DC gala shooting, says ex-Secret Service chief

A former head of the Secret Service has called for outside reviews of the protective agency's handling of the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, citing what he sees as potentially serious missteps that enabled a shooting suspect to breach a security perimeter.

"It's the right thing to do," John Magaw exclusively told USA TODAY in a series of recent interviews since the April 25 event. "You don't want to investigate it yourself. The public won't believe it."

Two other reviews are already underway in the aftermath of the shootout at the sprawling Washington Hilton after an armed suspect sprinted past agents, causing at least one to open fire and get hit in his ballistic vest.

One of those reviews is by the White House, which on April 27 said it will convene the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security, and the other is by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee has oversight of the Secret Service.

The Secret Service is also conducting its own after-action review of the incident, in which it subdued the alleged gunman, Cole Tomas Allen, and evacuated President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other leaders, a senior law enforcement official familiar with the various investigations told USA TODAY.

But those reviews will not suffice, Magaw said, given a security breach that was serious enough to force a mass evacuation of government leaders and the eventual shutdown of the annual dinner.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/04/29/secret-service-chief-probe-dc-gala-shooting/89840082007/?tbref=hp

He's right, because ANY government review at this point will be seen as compromised at best and completely unbelievable at worst.

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Outside probe needed of DC gala shooting, says ex-Secret Service chief (Original Post) Jilly_in_VA 10 hrs ago OP

I think it is a wise decision karynnj 10 hrs ago #1

karynnj

(61,071 posts)

1. I think it is a wise decision

Reply to Jilly_in_VA (Original post)

Mon May 4, 2026, 11:50 AM

10 hrs ago

Even now, having read some of the coverage, I still don't know how much risk there actually was after Allen breached the security point and was stopped.

It sounded from some people there that this was on a different floor, there was more security on the stairs going down to the ball room and then more security before the actual entrance to the ballroom. They also kept everyone not in the cabinet in the ballroom. That suggests they deemed that was some safety within that room as opposed to moving all of them out.

This does not in any way excuse Allen and in the moment they had to consider that others could have been involved. Could the evacuation have come because they considered that there could have been other means through which another assassin could get to the ballroom? It would seem to be the SS job to insure that ALL entrances to the ballroom including from the kitchen were secure. (Likely requiring the kitchen itself to be secure.)

Even though the actual risk to the President at the point when he was evacuated may not have been higher than the risk when people passed into the secure area in the White House in previous administrations. However, it might be a good time to assess SS procedures used in non WH Presidential visits.

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