As we learned in the Tuesday, Sept. 24, edition of the Butler Eagle, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, said the Secret Service was “casual” in preparation for former President Donald Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler County.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Kelly, chairman of a U.S. House of Representatives task force looking into the assassination attempt, strongly criticized the preparation and security for the rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds that ended in an assassination attempt on Trump. A lone shooter, Thomas Michael Crooks, 20, climbed onto a roof and fired eight shots at Trump.

Crook grazed Trump’s ear and his bullets killed one rally attendee and seriously injured two others. A Secret Service countersniper killed Crooks with a single shot.

As has been well-documented already, local law enforcement had raised concerns about the lines of sight at the venue before the rally. Multiple officers working the event on July 13 also noticed Crooks and tried to bring him to the Secret Service’s attention.

Because of failures in the leadership of the Secret Service those warnings weren’t followed up on.

The events of July 13, as well as the apparent assassination attempt against Trump that was stopped in Florida last week, show the need for more funding for the Secret Service. But they also show the need for real leadership and for a commitment to follow security protocol at every event.

Secret Service agents are clearly overworked and there is a need for more funding. But the failures on July 13 — basic communication failures that are inexcusable — had deadly consequences and left the nation facing the specter of more political violence.

The question is why it took such a tragedy to notice how bad things had gotten at the Secret Service.

— JK