Severe Secret Service sniper shortage leaves US leaders vulnerable, watchdog warns
New inspector general findings come just over one year after the team took out Trump rally gunman
By Diana Stancy Fox News
Published September 4, 2025 4:14pm EDT
The Secret Service’s counter sniper team is understaffed, jeopardizing the safety of U.S. leaders like the president, according to a new inspector general report.
The report comes just over one year after the counter sniper team took out the gunman who opened fire on President Donald Trump in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania, and as the agency has ushered in a series of reforms in response to the assassination attempt.
The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General determined that the Secret Service’s counter sniper team is staffed 73% below the level necessary to meet mission requirements and does not have an adequate pipeline to hire more.
"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," the report, was released Friday, states.
Meanwhile, demand for snipers is up. Events the sniper team supported increased by 151% from calendar year 2020 to 2024, even though staffing only increased 5% over that span, according to the report.
As a result, the watchdog recommended that the agency execute a plan to beef up staffing to meet the counter sniper staffing requirements. The Secret Service concurred, per the report.
The Secret Service said in a statement to Fox News Digital that it was working to comply, and that "significant progress has already been made towards recruitment of specialized teams and the retention of highly trained personnel, such as counter snipers."
"These efforts are designed to expand our capacity and strengthen the agency’s ability to ensure a sustainable, mission-focused workforce is always at the ready," a Secret Service spokesperson told Fox News Digital Thursday.
Meanwhile, the agency has already spearheaded a series of reforms after the assassination attempt against Trump in 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/severe-secret-service-sniper-shortage-leaves-us-leaders-vulnerable-watchdog-warns
