Regardless of what many might assume, there are a handful Secret Service brokers who’ve by no means set foot contained in the White Home — and a few have reportedly been skilled on its format by visiting a White Home duplicate at filmmaker Tyler Perry’s studios.
Whereas discussing the Secret Service’s latest challenges on a latest episode of The Daily podcast, New York Instances investigative reporter Eric Lipton spoke concerning the myriad issues plaguing the federal regulation enforcement company, together with their sources and coaching capabilities.
“Homeland Safety is a huge company … and the Secret Service grew to become type of an afterthought and because of this, it was unable to successfully compete for the cash that it wanted to equip and practice its new hires,” Lipton stated.
Elaborating on the problems, Lipton acknowledged that the present coaching amenities are in dire want of upgrades and will “merely be demolished.”
“Maybe the most important space that it’s impacted is Secret Service coaching. The coaching facility that they’ve in suburban Maryland, outdoors of Washington, is in fairly unhealthy form,” he stated.
“And in relation to the best way to defend and shield the White Home, they don’t actually have a mock White Home that they will practice round. Though they’ve been speaking about constructing one for over a decade,” Lipton continued.
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Lipton then revealed how filmmaker Tyler Perry got here into play, courtesy of the mock White Home he had constructed at his Atlanta film studios.
Based mostly on direct info he obtained from the Homeland Safety secretary, Lipton claimed that “a number of the uniformed officers have by no means been contained in the White Home.”
“The Secret Service is so wanting correct coaching amenities that they really despatched, on a number of events, their personnel right down to the Atlanta space to coach at a mock White Home that Tyler Perry, the Hollywood producer, had constructed as a stage in Georgia. It’s laborious to imagine, however that’s what the Secret Service has been left with as its choices for coaching its individuals,” Lipton stated.
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Lipton’s feedback come on the heels of elevated criticism towards the Secret Service following former President Donald Trump’s assassination makes an attempt.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down after the near-miss at Trump’s July rally in Butler, Pa., and a mass quantity of brokers reportedly left the company in 2024, including to a staffing disaster.
