Q&A of the Day – Is Ronald Rowe Jr. A Bum?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s Entry: Based on (another radio host’s) analysis informed by his experience in the agency & his inside sources, it seems that there are significant concerns over Rowe’s history, performance, & motives. Also (he) has indicated that as the 2nd in charge, Rowe would likely have been in charge of operations, to include decisions on personnel & other resource assignments/allocations to various protectees. Begs the question: Was he responsible for deliberate negligence in staffing and planning of DJT’s security?
Thanks for all you do!
Bottom Line: This is a good note. These are valid questions to ask and I’m happy to speak about this issue for a couple of reasons. I have received a bit of pushback based on my characterization of how the senate hearing went with Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. on Tuesday. My read on Rowe’s performance was my top takeaway yesterday in which I summed up his testimony by saying... ”Well, it was an improvement” (while also noting that the bar was set so low by his predecessor Cheatle, he could have tripped over it). First, on the matter of sourcing. As it pertains to this matter, the circumstances surrounding the Trump assassination attempt, I have two rock solid sources that I’ve tapped into during this process that’s contributed to information I’ve reported on. With that said, as it pertains Rowe or whomever the Acting Secret Service Director may be, the most important dynamic isn’t whether Rowe has a questionable background, motives, haircut or whatever else. What matters is whether the critical failures that allowed for the assassination attempt on Trump to take place have been addressed sufficiently to keep Donald Trump and all officials protected under the Secret Service safe. So, let’s address those matters first.
There were four critical concerns associated with the Secret Service’s security failure.
- Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail was undermanned
- There was a massive supervisory failure by the Agent in Charge
- The Secret Service lacked integrated communication systems with supporting law enforcement partners
- The Secret Service failed to use all available resources (drones)
Following the attack, and at the time of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation, there had been movement on only one of those four – Trump's detail had been stepped up. As of Rowe’s testimony we’ve learned that the Secret Service has addressed communication with supporting law enforcement partners and that the Secret Service is now using drones at all sites for security. Where, in my view, there is still an unsatisfactory action that hasn't been taken is regarding the status of the Agent in Charge of the Butler, PA event. Rowe has neither fired, suspended, or evidently even reassigned the individual pending the ongoing investigation into the Secret Service’s failures. As I mentioned yesterday, it’s at a minimum an illustration about the differences between a bureaucratic government agency and the real world. In any private enterprise the supervisor of a failure on that scale would be immediately terminated. Now, with that said, Rowe did address the matter of having one Agent in Change with potentially flawed judgement allowing another critical lapse in security to occur. In his words: I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented.
Importantly, the four critical needs have been met with Rowe having assumed the Acting Director’s role. As always there are two sides to stories and one side to the facts. Those are the facts. Now, does that mean that Rowe might not have some question marks? Nope. But there’s a need for pragmatism. Here are a few questions to consider...
- Who is the President of the United States?
- Who appoints the Secret Service Director?
- How likely is it that an agency previously headed by Cheatle has lots of personnel issues?
- What highly talented person from the outside would want to step into this post with potentially only five months to go with the job?
- How plausible is it for someone from the outside to step in to lead the Secret Service when we’re under 100 days away from Election Day?
Now, given that Joe Biden is the President of the United States it's likely that most Trump supporters aren’t going to be fond of any Biden appointees to any agencies. Given that reality the question then becomes whether the appointee is competent to do the job. And that takes me to the successive questions I posed. Given that the utterly incompetent Cheatle had been running the show I’d fully expect there to be issues with many of the individuals in her command chain – Rowe included. But then consider the other two questions I posed. It is utterly unreasonable to expect during the most critical of moments in the Secret Service’s cycle, that only comes up every four years, that you’re going to be able to bring someone in from the outside who wasn’t part of Cheatle’s chain, and to be able to get them up to speed operationally sufficiently to meet the peak need at this moment...which let’s not forget includes an alleged Iranian assassination plot against Donald Trump. Further, if Donald Trump wins the election the incoming Secret Service Director would likely have only five months on the job to serve. What exceedingly qualified and talented person would leave what they’re currently doing to walk into that circumstance even if they were given the opportunity?
It’s easy to be critical, and to potentially find faults/issues with the appointees of an opposing party’s president. Pragmatism isn’t as easy. My all-time favorite quote comes from Teddy Roosevelt. It’s complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining. I’m focused on getting to the best possible solutions given the circumstances at hand...which become considerably better solutions if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States.