"No Pay but Heavy Workload"... US Secret Service Faces Emergency Amid Resignation Wave

High Workload and Low Pay Lead to Veteran Turnover

Amid a series of assassination attempts on former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the U.S. Secret Service (SS) has come under scrutiny, with criticisms emerging that their security failures were predictable.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 3rd (local time) that "the SS was aware that this year would be one of the busiest in their history, from the presidential election to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, yet they were completely unprepared." It explained that the SS entered 2024 with a severe loss of personnel, as many veteran agents had left.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

According to federal data, at least 1,400 employees have retired from the SS over the past two years, accounting for 18% of the total workforce (7,800 employees). This is the largest personnel loss in the SS over the past 20 years. In July last year, then-SS Director Kimberly Cheatle sent an email to the entire organization stating, "Now more than ever, retaining personnel is crucial," reflecting this sense of crisis.

Current and former SS employees cited high work intensity, low compensation, and management's personnel failures as the main reasons for this exodus. Despite the nature of security work requiring frequent overtime, it is common for overtime pay to be delayed or even unpaid. A survey conducted last month by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) targeting SS employees found that 44% of respondents worked beyond the overtime pay cap last year, with unpaid overtime wages totaling $30,000.

The SS attempted to fill the gaps left by those who left due to extreme work intensity by rehiring retirees, but this backfired. News that rehired retirees could receive both their retirement pension and wages simultaneously led many current employees to join the wave of resignations. Moreover, rehired employees were reportedly assigned to administrative or new recruit training roles rather than urgent security duties.

Christopher McClenick, a former Secret Service agent who protected former President Bill Clinton, remarked, "I once saw an agent who was rehired after retirement painting the walls of the SS office," adding, "He must have been the most expensive painter in federal contract history." Other causes of personnel loss included corruption involving parachute appointments of people with no security experience, outdated security equipment, and inadequate training systems.

The NYT stated, "The two assassination attempts on former President Trump this summer revealed serious problems within the Secret Service," and noted, "Although the SS recently reached a record high of 8,100 employees, this is still below the 10,000 needed for smooth operation without emergency overtime requests."

Meanwhile, on the 15th of last month, former President Trump narrowly escaped a second assassination attempt while playing golf at his own Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. SS agents detected the muzzle of an AK-47 rifle emerging from bushes about 300 meters away from Trump and responded preemptively, capturing the suspect. This incident, occurring two months after Trump was shot during a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, has reignited controversy over security failures.