Why It Matters
The Secret Service has failed to consistently update its protection policies in response to security incidents, leaving gaps in safeguards for the President, Vice President, and other dignitaries at a time when threats against these officials are accelerating.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, published in September, carry urgent implications: the Secret Service did not address the civilian use of drones in its policies until July 2024, months after encountering drone incidents from 2015 to 2021 and just weeks before a shooter used a drone in an assassination attempt against then-former President Donald Trump.
The Big Picture
The Secret Service's protection framework is incomplete by design. The agency maintains 22 protection policies governing how it responds to various security threats and scenarios. Yet, the GAO's review of all these policies revealed that many are not being updated in a timely manner.
The Secret Service's own officials acknowledged to the GAO that timely policy updates matter. They told investigators that documenting the rationale for not making policy changes after incidents would be important because it demonstrates an incident was fully reviewed. Yet the agency's current practice does not require personnel to document why they determined an incident does not warrant a protection policy update. That means security incidents can be investigated, analyzed, and then shelved without any formal record of why the agency decided no policy change was necessary.
Between fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2025, the Secret Service responded to 83 security incidents; of those, it updated policies in response to 25. Secret Service policy does not require personnel to document their rationale when they determine a security incident does not warrant a protection policy update.
The drone incident illustrates the consequences of this gap. The Secret Service encountered drone incidents from 2015 to 2021. Despite these encounters, the agency did not update its policies to address civilian use of drones prior to July 2024. The delay meant that the Secret Service had no formal policy guidance on drone threats until after a shooter used a drone during an assassination attempt against then-former President Trump in July 2024.
Secret Service officials told the GAO that they try to make timely policy updates but are not always able to identify personnel available to do so. That explanation suggests a resource or staffing constraint, but it does not address why the Secret Service did not update its drone policies during the six years of documented incidents from 2015 to 2021, before an actual assassination attempt forced the issue.
The number of protectees the agency safeguards has fluctuated significantly from fiscal year 2015 through fiscal year 2025, particularly around changes in presidential administrations.
The Bottom Line
The GAO is making four recommendations in the report. All four recommendations have an Open status, meaning actions to satisfy their intent have not been taken or are being planned. Both the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Secret Service, and the Department of State concurred with all four recommendations.
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