MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Secret Service is back in the hot seat on Capitol Hill. There have been other hearings, but the first by a congressional task force set up specifically to investigate the July 13 shooting at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa., is set for today. It's focused on the breakdowns between the Secret Service and the local and state police. NPR's political reporter, Ximena Bustillo, is with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Ximena.
XIMENA BUSTILLO, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So, you know, most people know the U.S. Secret Service as the lead agency in charge of protecting presidents and former presidents. It's clear there were failures that day, so bring us up to date on what we know so far about what those were.
BUSTILLO: Yeah, this hearing is the latest strip of information on shortcomings in this troubled agency. Congress has already held other hearings regarding the assassination attempt. This includes the testimony of the former Secret Service director, who resigned the next day. Acting Director Ronald Rowe now has also testified. Earlier this week, a separate bipartisan panel of lawmakers in the Senate released a report investigating where the shortfalls were on July 13. And the report found that - a number of pitfalls in how the rally was protected, including lack of communication between federal and local security forces about securing the roof of the building where the shooter took position. Limited and failing technology was also a problem.
MARTIN: But Ximena, you know, those communication issues have come up many times before in these investigations. Is there something new here? What are the latest findings?
BUSTILLO: You're right. So last week, the Secret Service itself put out a report that highlighted these issues. Acting Director Rowe said that one of the failures in Butler was that the Secret Service deferred too much to local law enforcement on securing buildings near the rally, and didn't provide clear guidance. This allowed for the shooter to climb onto the roof of a building nearby and shoot at the former president. Both reports do emphasize that the building's roof was just not adequately covered, and the use of different radio frequencies - or radios that didn't work at all - posed clear communication issues.
MARTIN: So today's hearing, as you were telling us, is supposed to focus on local law enforcement. Say more about - why is that a major concern?
BUSTILLO: Leaders from state and local police departments in Pennsylvania will testify on their interactions with the Secret Service. Lawmakers will likely want to focus on that communication piece between federal and local - who was in charge, and what directions explicitly were. This is the first hearing for this task force, as you mentioned, and they did want to specifically focus on the Secret Service's reliance on state and local enforcement. Expected to testify is the commander for the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a patrolman for the Butler Township Police Department and the lieutenant for the Pennsylvania State Police. They may be able to testify to their experience working with federal forces. During a press conference last week, Acting Director Rowe emphasized that the Secret Service is the agency that is ultimately supposed to be responsible for securing events. He himself cited complacency from agents, flaws in advanced planning, as well as overreliance on mobile devices that, again, led to these communication breakdowns at multiple levels.
MARTIN: So Congress has been discussing the shortfalls of the Secret Service - the failures, if you want to call it that. What action might they take?
BUSTILLO: Well, to start, they are giving it more money. Lawmakers just approved a $230 million increase, but there are still a lot of questions about whether money is enough to fix those issues. They also passed a bill requiring the Secret Service to provide the same level of protection that it does to presidents to vice presidents, and major candidates for both offices. But the Secret Service says that they already do that with Trump. Speaker Johnson told reporters recently that there are serious personnel shortages - something that just can't be quickly fixed, since it takes time to hire and train these agents.
MARTIN: NPR's Ximena Bustillo. Ximena, thank you.
BUSTILLO: Thank you.
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