The U.S. Secret Service is the target of all criticism after allowing Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old with no military training, to climb onto the roof of an industrial building 130 meters from Trump and shoot him with a semi-automatic rifle. Truth be told, mishaps within the Secret Service are not uncommon.
In a notorious scandal in 2012, one of their members, who was protecting Barack Obama during a visit to Colombia, caused a scandal reminiscent of a farce when he refused to pay a girl he had hired to take back to the hotel after a night of revelry with agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The agent in question apparently believed the girl had gone with him for his looks and conversation, not for his money, leading to an incident that was a mix of a security crisis and a comedy, especially when photos surfaced on Facebook of the agent in question, David Chaney, staring at the rear of former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, and openly celebrating it.
Chaney was not an isolated case. A subsequent investigation revealed that 11 of the agents who had gone as an "advance team" to the Caribbean city hosting a summit of heads of state and government from across the Americas had thoroughly examined the amorous skills of Colombian sex-workers, in a country where such activity is legal unlike in the United States.
Donald Trump's youngest daughter, Tiffany, hooked up with one of them. The ex-wife of Donald Trump Junior, the president's eldest son, Vanessa Trump (who has kept using her ex-husband's last name, perhaps for branding reasons as it is much more recognizable than hers, Pergolizzi). It was during those years that one of Vice President Mike Pence's bodyguards - a strict evangelical who never dined alone with a woman to avoid any potential issues - was caught in a brothel in Baltimore, near Washington, in the U.S., where prostitution is illegal and punishable by jail time.
Some have turned to alcohol more than sex. There have been Secret Service members - including elite units - who have crashed their cars, drunk as skunks, into the White House fence. In fact, until 2014, Secret Service personnel were allowed to drink - in moderation - while on duty. In a famous case in 2015, upon being alerted about a bomb package (which turned out to be a false alarm), a Secret Service agent near the Treasury Department ran away, displaying agility but not bravery.
But all those mishaps were public relations disasters. What happened on Saturday was a tragedy and almost an assassination. Now, the quest for accountability could lead to the long-awaited reform and professionalization of the Secret Service, whose members seem much more adept strutting around like John Wayne and arbitrarily closing streets or buildings rather than excelling in the protection of the leaders under their care.