Written by John Smith.
At the July 13 Trump rally, Butler County EMS was mainly dealing with heat-related issues among attendees. After the shooting, their focus shifted to coordinating the medical response. The EMS team did their job well, but their after-action report—obtained after a legal battle—highlights some local areas needing improvement and reveals new Secret Service mistakes.
According to the report, the Secret Service didn’t visit Butler Memorial Hospital before the rally. A hospital official noted, “Four years ago, when there was a rally at the airport, the Secret Service did a site inspection here at BMH. That didn’t happen this time. Thankfully, I had the plan from that time and met with key staff members on my way to the event that day—apprising them of the plan should anything occur.”
Deviation from Established Security Plans
Even with a four-year-old plan, agents didn’t follow it. The report states, “The Secret Service member who brought the President here deviated from that plan and entered through the ambulance bay (should have been the emergency exit by ER Room 8) for whatever reason upon getting to the facility.”
This deviation may have allowed a patient’s family member to capture video of Trump’s motorcade outside the hospital, suggesting that Trump was still vulnerable due to the Secret Service not following its own plan. The EMS report also noted that the Secret Service’s command center was separate from the local communications trailer—a failure well-documented through congressional investigations. The report described this failure bluntly: “We had the County Command Post trailer on site, which should have had Command staff from each agency inside working alongside and communicating with one another, but we did not. Secret Service and PSP had their own command post, and all requests for emergency services from the Secret Service field staff went to Steve, who then had to relay it via radio to Operations.”
Local Emergency Operations Center Not Activated
Additionally, the EMS report identified other local concerns, including that the local Emergency Operations Center (EOC) wasn’t properly activated. EOCs are supposed to be activated when a state or local emergency is declared, or when special events require resources beyond what local municipalities can handle.
An EMS official noted, “EOC activation was requested due to the plethora of calls we received from media, and family of victims/unaccounted for rally goers.” However, “Our request was denied due to no EMA representatives available being as they were all at the rally, and unable to leave the crime scene. That request being denied is simply unacceptable.” The report also detailed how dispatchers were confused about the various call signs from all the different units who responded to Butler. “It is understood that our command post knew the unit call signs for accountability, however once the event turned to a critical incident, dispatchers overseeing the channels had no accountability, nor ability to send backup if requested during the attempted clearing of the building once inside of AGR,” the report said.
Our Take
The Secret Service’s failure to conduct a pre-rally site inspection at Butler Memorial Hospital and their deviation from established security plans are deeply concerning. These lapses not only compromised the safety of the President but also exposed systemic issues within the agency’s operational protocols. Such negligence is unacceptable and poses a significant risk to public safety. It’s imperative that the Secret Service addresses these shortcomings to prevent future security failures.
