NYT: U.S. Secret Service employees face mass resignations due to overwork
The U.S. Secret Service is facing a mass exodus of employees due to overwork, favoritism in hiring and promotions, and problems with implementing advanced technology tools, the New York Times reports, citing U.S. federal data and more than two dozen former agents interviewed.
As the New York Times notes, the Secret Service knew that 2024 would be one of the most challenging years in recent memory because of an abundance of high-level events, but failed to prepare for it.
“Instead of growing as the challenging year approached, the service shrank. At least 1,400 of the 7,800 employees quit in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the largest exodus from the agency in at least the past two decades,” the publication wrote.
By the summer of 2024, the Secret Service had 8,100 employees. Despite the fact that the figure was the largest headcount in the organization’s history, the New York Times stresses that the agency is still far from the 10,000-employee mark to avoid overwork.
According to the newspaper’s sources, one of the main problems has also been the departure of the most experienced employees. At the same time, the organization failed to prepare the necessary reserve to fill the gaps.
Problems also revealed two attempts to assassinate former President Donald Trump. So, due to the lack of technical means during the first assassination attempt, the attacker was able to scout the situation with the help of a drone, and due to poor communication, he was allowed to open fire, although law enforcement officers detected the attacker, the publication writes.