AILSA CHANG, HOST:
It has been just over a week since a gunman attempted to assassinate former President Trump by opening fire at a campaign rally. This morning, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned following a grueling day on Capitol Hill where both Democrats and Republicans called on her to step down. All of this has put a spotlight on the agency that's responsible for protecting the country's top leaders and issues, like chronic understaffing, that have plagued it for years.
Ralph Basham was director of the Secret Service during the George W. Bush administration and joins us now. Welcome.
RALPH BASHAM: Glad to be speaking to you.
CHANG: Glad to have you. Let's begin with the assassination attempt on Trump. That particular day, how would you evaluate the Secret Service's response that Saturday?
BASHAM: Well, actually, if you want to talk about the response...
CHANG: Yeah.
BASHAM: ...I'm very, very positive on the response itself. The agents on the former President Trump's detail acted exactly textbook. I mean, they realized that there had been a shot. He went down. They covered him. They took their time to check him, and they also waited to hear that shooter's down. And look, you know, these agents - they put their bodies between a potential bullet and their protectee. It was textbook.
CHANG: Right. OK, so you commend the response that day.
BASHAM: Absolutely. Yeah.
CHANG: But there are lingering questions, such as, how did the shooter, in the first place, get on a nearby rooftop? And yesterday, Kimberly Cheatl - she was grilled by lawmakers during the first congressional hearing about this assassination attempt, and her repeated answer to questions about the shooting was basically some version of this.
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KIMBERLY CHEATLE: We are nine days out from this event, and I would like to know those answers as well, which is why we are going through these investigations to be able to determine that fully.
CHANG: Let me ask you, Ralph - were you surprised that Cheatle didn't or couldn't give more details at that hearing?
BASHAM: No, I'm not. In fact, I felt that Kim was acting very responsibly in the sense that, look, we've got three investigations going on here - one internal investigation and one investigation by the IG and one investigation that's being carried out by congressional committees. And for her to step out in front and make comments on those issues until she had a thorough understanding of exactly what happened, in my mind, would have been misleading. I'm shocked that the committee decided to hold a hearing that quickly while these investigations were going on - until they got more information and she had more information. And, hey, was this thing a catastrophic failure? Absolutely.
CHANG: In what ways?
BASHAM: The mission of the Secret Service is about prevention. The Secret Service is not about investigating an assassination attempt. It's about preventing one. And this was just a total failure in the lead-up in terms of the advance - literally giving up the high ground. That is unacceptable, and somebody needs to be held accountable.
CHANG: Well, as the investigations carry on about what the specific failures were that particular Saturday, what struck you the most about what Cheatle did or didn't say during the hearing yesterday?
BASHAM: I'm disappointed, to tell you the truth, because I believe the Secret Service is understaffed and underfunded and has been so for a while. And this is not an excuse because there is no plausible excuse for what happened on Saturday. But let me just tell you, you know, that we have been trying - working with the department, working with the Hill - to get additional resources. And I just felt like that was an opportunity to get that out there.
CHANG: But let me make sure I understand - do you think staff shortages inside the Secret Service directly contributed to what happened?
BASHAM: I don't believe that that particular incident was caused directly by that, and I don't know this for a fact. I don't know whether they asked for additional people and were turned down, but I know as - you know, when I was the director, those things happened.
CHANG: I mean, the Trump campaign has maintained that they tried to get more staffing from Secret Service, and they were turned down.
BASHAM: And here's the point. Let the investigations be carried out, and then let's talk about if that was the issue or not the issue and if the investigations come back and say - you know what? - they were shorthanded, or they didn't have enough experienced people to take on that complicated venue outdoors.
CHANG: Besides more money, what changes need to happen within the Secret Service, in your mind?
BASHAM: I guess they're going to have to focus more on making sure that the agents have the experience to do the job - not only that, but oversight, like on that incident on Saturday. And I don't know the answer to this point, but it was handled out of the Pittsburgh field office. And were there senior agents there who had been assigned in their background, who had years of experience that went out there and looked at that site to make sure the vulnerabilities were covered? I don't know.
And again, that's what these investigations are meant to do - to say, OK, you know, why weren't there people out there with experience? Who did the site advance? There's just going to have to be more oversight in these types of events and making sure you have the experience there to ensure that all these vulnerabilities are identified and covered.
CHANG: Ralph Basham was director of the Secret Service during the George W. Bush administration. Thank you very much for joining us.
BASHAM: You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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