The resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle highlights a crisis of competence within the agency. The systemic failures and the spread of a toxic diversity, equity and inclusion(DEI) culture throughout the government bureaucracy indicates that merely cutting off the head will not cure the cancer.
Charles Krauthammer stated: “The reason people believe in conspiracy theories is because they think the government is competent.” He argued that many supposed conspiracies are the result of incompetence rather than deliberate, coordinated actions.
While Krauthammer’s insight is sharp, it does not fully capture the pernicious progression from incompetence to what might be termed “soft corruption.” When ineptitude, irresponsibility and incompetence persist, they metastasize into a form of corruption.
The recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump underscores the urgency of this issue. Public accountability demands a thorough examination of failures, not just at the top or at the point of the catastrophic failure, but an in-depth evaluation of the slow drift that preceded it.
These are the small, often unnoticed lapses that, taken individually, may seem insignificant. Bad behavior or policy ignored is reinforced by a repeated positive outcome. This results in devaluing the threats over time — leading to greater vulnerability.
In this incident, the absurdity of not ensuring that a clear line of sight from an elevated position was not blocked or that law enforcement was stationed there is glaring. The failure to detain someone with a range finder is incomprehensible.
Moreover, if employees always performed their duties flawlessly, the role of supervisors would be diminished. Supervisors exist to provide oversight and correction, yet they are not immune to complacency or incompetence.
Organizations that implement multiple layers of supervision without clear lines of authority are setting themselves up for failure. During the recent House Oversight Committee hearing, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle referenced these levels of oversight in reviewing the site plan for the Trump rally.
By using the management cliché that “we are all responsible,” she obfuscated the issue of command authority.
This is akin to having everyone at a pool party tasked with watching the children — but, ultimately, no one is truly watching, and complacency sets in.
Effective planning requires clear lines of authority and a mechanism to record dissenting views at each level. This ensures that the next supervisory layer does not merely perform a pro forma check-off but engages in a substantive review, asking pertinent questions. The absence of such rigor can lead to significant oversights.
Training and resource allocation must also be scrutinized. The agency’s commitment should end with following the law, treating everyone with respect and ensuring the mission is the north star.
Instead, we see this agency drinking from the poisonous well of identity politics with a focus on DEI initiatives at the expense of the mission.
The focus must remain on merit and mission effectiveness. The aim should be to ensure equal opportunity, not seeking equal outcomes. Equity has become a code word for quotas and other schemes that compromise standards.
Merely replacing the head of the agency will not cure the underlying cancer within the agency. The line between incompetence and corruption is thin but critical. Persistent failures, unaddressed, can evolve into a culture of corruption.
It is imperative to look beyond immediate failures and address the systemic issues that allow incompetence to fester. We must demand accountability at all levels and reform our protective services. Without it, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, placing our leaders and our nation’s security in jeopardy.
Frank Ricci was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Ricci v Destefano. He retired as a Battalion Chief in New Haven, Conn. He has testified before Congress and is the author of the book, Command Presence.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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