{"id":103160,"date":"2024-07-23T01:08:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T06:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=103160"},"modified":"2024-07-23T01:08:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T06:08:04","slug":"103160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=103160","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The Secret Service’s Day Of Reckoning: What Kim Cheatle’s Evasion Means For America<\/a><\/p>\n

United States Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle sat before the House Oversight Committee yesterday. The committee subpoenaed Cheatle to ensure her appearance. Her responses were predictable and tiresome. Whenever possible, she deflected questions, citing the FBI\u2019s \u201congoing investigation.\u201d Her response to every substantive question was a simple variation on a theme \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m not going to get into the specifics.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a response that has rolled with ease off the lips of FBI Director Christopher Wray whenever confronted with the ire of congressional committee members. Anger \u2014 genuine or manufactured \u2014 displayed as the result of inexcusable incidents of politicization. But, these sorts of responses to congressional oversight committees have become so common they\u2019re mundane.<\/p>\n

However, Congress plays a significant role in the automatic and cavalier dismissals of pointed questioning by agency heads. Oversight has become a joke. Unless you\u2019re a Trump appointee or official, contempt of Congress has absolutely no meaning. Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro are the only two examples in living memory of the efficacious use of Congress\u2019 power of contempt. It seems only Democrats have the political will.<\/p>\n

Cheatle easily dismissed the blustery, reddened faces congressional inquisitors assumed, like so many tomatoes set atop starched collars. Cursing and grandstanding only serves to elicit reshares on social media, and ensures a few early afternoon hits on broadcast news channels. All very important if you\u2019re obsessed with the perpetual fundraising cycle, and convincing gullible constituents you really care one whit about their questions or concerns.<\/p>\n

How do I know this is all a put-on? I\u2019ve witnessed it firsthand. As a member of a dignitary protection detail, I\u2019ve seen behind the veritable curtain, and witnessed the handshaking, back slapping, and laughing transform into Oscar winning tragedies of political theater when the cameras and lights come on. The outrage is a ploy \u2014 maybe not for everyone, but for most.<\/p>\n

The American people can do the analysis for themselves. Congress doesn\u2019t have the power to fire Cheatle directly, that option is solely within the purview of the lame duck president Joe Biden. But, Congress does control the purse strings, and the power to arrest and jail for contempt.<\/p>\n

Cheatle followed the disaster of July 13th with a disastrous day before Congress. With nine days to anticipate obvious questions, she refused to provide a real answer to a single one. There\u2019s no question she has access to accurate, preliminary findings \u2014 information the public has a right to know. A quick perusal of the operations plan would tell her who was responsible for covering the building from which the shooter fired.<\/p>\n

Democrat members of the House Oversight Committee like Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) used the publicity opportunity to vamp for gun confiscation. Norton asked Cheatle, \u201cWould Secret Service protectees be safer or less safe if people could carry handguns in D.C?\u201d What that has to do with the most significant Secret Service failure in almost fifty years is beyond the powers of mortal reason.<\/p>\n

Incompetence is a feature of Democrat party policy, politics, and governance at every level.<\/p>\n

Cheatle also failed to convincingly defend the men and women who responded within three seconds of the first shot fired on the July 13th assassination attempt, or to debunk the plethora of wild conspiracy theories infesting the dark environs of social media.<\/p>\n

Keyboard jockeys immediately pounced on the female members of Trump\u2019s protection detail, zeroing in on one in particular who seemed overcome by events. Though performance was certainly an issue during some of the tactical movements leading to securing Trump in his limousine, these criticisms are coming almost exclusively from people who have no dignitary protection background. The same critics have failed to realize the potentially pivotal role played by the Butler County Sheriff’s deputy who was boosted to the roof where the would-be assassin had positioned himself. It is highly likely that the actions of this deputy saved Trump\u2019s life, having disturbed the shooter\u2019s firing rhythm.<\/p>\n

Ridiculous conspiracy theories abound. Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-KS) leveled a series of important questions, asking Cheatle to provide detail to dispel the growing body of wild and uninformed narratives surrounding the assassination attempt. She refused.<\/p>\n

A particularly laughable theory\u00a0<\/a>posits that an FBI Assistant Director (AD) was placed behind Trump in the crowd during the rally. Any surveillance professional knows how ridiculous it is to suggest that an AD would be involved in surveillance at all, much less in one where she\u2019d be placed directly behind Trump, in a position to be photographed countless times. But, this is the kind of nonsense that flourishes in the absence of information from professionals who are in the position to know.<\/p>\n

Cheatle did get one thing right: she called the January 13th assassination attempt the worst lapse in decades. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) called her incompetent, and demanded her instant resignation. Failing that, Turner called on Biden to fire her immediately. More notably, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) compared Cheatle to former USSS Director H. Stewart Knight after the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt, citing his resignation. Khanna said flatly, \u201cI think you should resign.\u201d Humorously, though stated in the most grave tones, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) called Cheatle, \u201ca DEI horror story.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been often said that the Secret Service\u2019s duties are a \u201cno fail mission.\u201d That\u2019s absolutely true. The responsibilities of dignitary protection are too weighty to allow for chance, mistake, or complacency. There are no take backs or do overs. That\u2019s why former Director Stewart tendered his resignation. However, providing an acceptable level of transparency is also a no fail mission. Without it, as we have seen, everyone loses faith in our democratic institutions. That is an existential threat.<\/p>\n

We must not just demand, but secure accountability from our representatives. We have an unparalleled opportunity to do just that this presidential election cycle. Trump can exercise executive authority to correct the leadership problems at the Secret Service, the FBI, and across the deep state apparatus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Secret Service’s Day Of Reckoning: What Kim Cheatle’s Evasion Means For America United States Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle sat before the House Oversight Committee yesterday. The committee subpoenaed Cheatle to ensure her appearance. Her responses were predictable and tiresome. Whenever possible, she deflected questions, citing the FBI\u2019s \u201congoing investigation.\u201d Her response to every … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,14,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bureaucraps","category-editorial-o-the-day","category-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103161,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103160\/revisions\/103161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}