DHS Inspector General Report Details Secret Service Communication and Planning Failures in 2024 Butler Assassination Attempt

A newly released Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, dated June 30, 2026, concludes that the U.S. Secret Service missed multiple opportunities to detect and disrupt the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on then-former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The report, OIG-26-13, highlights that Secret Service personnel received only five phone calls and three text messages regarding the suspicious individual later identified as Thomas Crooks, while failing to obtain 102 local law enforcement radio transmissions about an intensifying search for the gunman. These transmissions were handled in a separate communications room established by local officers. The agency’s failure to establish a joint communications room with law enforcement contributed directly to this gap. Additional lapses included an inoperable counter-drone system that allowed Crooks to fly a drone over the site for nearly nine minutes two hours before the shooting, unshared classified intelligence on long-range threats to Trump, and inadequate securing of the American Glass Research building rooftop used by the shooter. The report states that full awareness of the Crooks search would likely have prompted delays or removal of Trump from the stage. Seven recommendations for improving protective operations were issued and accepted by the Secret Service. This aligns with earlier OIG findings on chronic understaffing in countersniper teams and broader planning deficiencies. Mainstream outlets such as Reuters have reported the 102 missed transmissions as a central finding, underscoring systemic breakdowns in inter-agency coordination that extended beyond isolated errors.