(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) Concerns have been expressed about why drones weren't used when a gunman targeted former President Donald Trump. On July 13, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired shots from a rooftop close to where trump was giving a speech at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attack resulted in one rally attendee being killed and two others seriously injured before the Secret Service shot and killed the gunman.
Trump, the Republican candidate for president, injured his right ear. A few days later, he proudly showed up at the Republican National convention with a bandage over the wound.
Since the shooting, several investigations have begun-looking into the crime itself and how the shooter managed to get so close to the former president.
There have been concerns about mistakes made by the Secret Service and increasing demands for the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle, to resign after the attempt on Trump's life. However, she has stated she will not step down, according to newsweek a reputed online media.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, mentioned that during a law enforcement briefing with senators on Wednesday, Cheatle was asked why drones weren't used to spot potential threats from high positions during the rally on Saturday, July 13.
On his podcast "Verdict," Cruz shared that one senator asked, "Were there drones, yes or no?" The head of the Secret Service replied, "We decided that the risk from that rooftop was managed by countersnipers."
Cruz criticized Cheatle for not admitting during the call that drones should have been used also questioned how the Secret Service team, which inspected the area before the event to spot potential threats, failed to notice that the rooftop the gunman used was sloped. This meant that the countersnipers couldn't see the entire rooftop.
"I'm sure the roof didn't suddenly become slanted between the inspection and the event," he said."In other words, if the countersnipers can't see a spot where a shooter could be, then the threat isn't effectively managed. She didn't address any of that," he said.
On Monday, 22nd July,Cheatle is scheduled to appear at a congressional hearing before the House Oversight Committee, after being subpoenaed (or Summoned)
by its Republican chair. She will likely face more questions about why drones were not used.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about drones in a call after the shooting.
"Homeland Security"
protects the U.S. from threats like terrorism and natural disasters. "The Secret Service " safeguards national leaders, like the President, and investigates financial crimes such as counterfeiting and fraud Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversees Homeland Security. The Secret Service also operates under the DHS.
"It's now standard practice to have drones over an event like this," Johnson said in a recent interview. He added, "We are currently compiling a list of serious and important questions that need immediate answers."
Johnson also mentioned that he would create a task force to look into the security failures that happened.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the Secret Service did not request Special Government Interest waivers to use drones at the event.
An FAA spokesperson told Newsweek, "The FAA did not issue any Special Government Interest waivers for the event on Saturday, July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement at the scene could have used drones under their own agency authorizations."
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told Newsweek that the agency "cannot comment on details of an ongoing investigation at this time."
He added, "We are fully committed to cooperating with all appropriate and relevant investigations into what happened on July 13, including those by Congress, the Inspector General, and both internal and independent reviews."
In an interview with ABC News, Cheatle described the shooting as "unacceptable" and said it was "something that shouldn't happen again."
She added that snipers were not stationed on the rooftop used by the gunman because it was sloped. "That building has a sloped roof at its highest point," she explained. "For safety reasons, we wouldn't place someone on a sloped roof. So, the decision was made to secure the building from inside."
President Joe Biden has called for an independent review of the shooting. "We'll share the results of that review with the American people as well," he said on Sunday, July 14.
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has also started an investigation into how the Secret Service handled the shooting.
(The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach him at: ...)
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