[FedCom] USSS radio interop failures at Trump rally in Butler, PA

Mon Aug 5 15:01:48 EDT 2024

I suspect the issue is far more political than technical. The USSS doesn't want to give any of those inferior local types their radios, because they aren't sufficiently secret squirrel. Never mind that keys can and should be rotated after every event, radios can be tactical inhibited, etc. 

They could have used bubble pack FRS radios and had better interop. To quote our current fearless leader, the discussion about cell sites and all that is a bunch of malarkey. 

________________________________
From: bernieS <bernies at panix.com>
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2024 13:57
To: fedcom at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [FedCom] USSS radio interop failures at Trump rally in Butler, PA

I've been to the Butler PA Fairgrounds for the annual hamfest there. It's
a rural area so perhaps the cellsites there didn't have sufficient
capacity to handle a large crowd like the Trump rally--many of who were
likely using high-bandwidth to stream live video. The Trump campaign said
it was a big crowd, but they always say that ;-)  The Butler Farm Show
there in July has way more attendees than the Trump rally did.

USSS' advance team could've asked the mobile carriers to increase capacity
for the event. Cell tower dumps should be requested to analyze and
determine who was there, who was communicating with who, their proximity
to each other, evidence of system capacity overload, etc.

It would be interesting if anyone had the foresight to deploy one or more
SDR's to record all the radio traffic during the event: Public-safety
VHF/UHF/700/800, analog, digital, and FRS/GMRS, MURS, CB, etc. Lots of
intel to analyze.

It seems to me that law-enforcement agencies responsible for security at
this event are making excuses and blaming others. The lead agency was USSS
and the buck stops there.

-bernieS

> "Spotty cellular service"?  There were two cell towers right on the farm
> from which the shooter was.  Don't know which cell services were on
> those tower as I didn't see the antennas, but this is just more federal
> gov't BS.
>
> Greg
>
> On 8/4/2024 03:32, onecharliesix--- via FedCom wrote:
>> Then Why do we have a Nationwide 5 channel "National Calling"
>> frequencies
>> that are never put into use ?
>> Jeff
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: fedcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net <fedcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On
>> Behalf Of bernieS
>> Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2024 3:03 AM
>> To: fedcom at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: [FedCom] USSS radio interop failures at Trump rally in Butler,
>> PA
>>
>> https://www.wsj.com/us-news/tech-failings-plagued-secret-service-at-trump-ra
>> lly-49d2286e
>>
>> Tech Glitches Plagued Secret Service at Rally
>>
>> BY C. RYAN BARBER AND SADIE GURMAN
>>
>> WASHINGTON-Spotty cellular service,
>> malfunctioning technology and unused equipment contributed to a major
>> communications breakdown during the rally where a gunman tried to kill
>> Donald Trump, just when law enforcement needed to share information the
>> most, the top Secret Service official said Friday.
>>
>> Among other problems, there were no Secret Service agents inside a
>> command
>> post set up by local police ahead of the July 13 rally, meaning critical
>> information couldn't easily get to the agency charged with protecting
>> the
>> former president.
>>
>> "It is plainly obvious to me that we didn't have access to certain
>> information," said acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.
>>
>> Urged by lawmakers to share more information publicly, Rowe offered new
>> glimpses into the massive security failure at the rally in western
>> Pennsylvania, where a 20-year-old gunman was able to access a rooftop
>> with a
>> clear line of sight to Trump and open fire with an AR-15 rifle. A
>> spectator
>> was killed, two others were injured, and Trump suffered a bullet wound
>> to
>> his ear.
>>
>> Officers had spotted the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and identified
>> him
>> as suspicious about an hour before the shooting, but lost sight of
>> him.When
>> an officer finally saw him on the roof with a gun, he notified other
>> law-enforcement agencies over a radio system. But that radio message
>> never
>> got to Secret Service agents, and within 30 seconds Crooks opened fire.
>>
>> "That vital piece of information. did not make it over," Rowe said.
>>
>> Further complicating matters, some officers were communicating with each
>> other in several different ways, such as by cellphone and text
>> mes--sage,while others were using a radio system.
>> That radio system was flooded with calls for people needing help,
>> especially
>> given the extreme heat of the day.
>>
>> "The interoperability challenge, it's not an easy fix," Rowe said. "It's
>> not
>> as simple as just trying to figure out the local frequency of the agency
>> you're working with and then typing that into your radio network. It
>> requires a substantial technical fix."
>>
>> Moreover, a technical issue prevented the Secret Service from deploying
>> a
>> counterdrone system sooner that might have helped locate the gunman, who
>> flew his own drone in the vicinity within two hours of the rally.
>>
>> Officials meant to start using the technology at
>> 3 p.m. but couldn't get it operating until after 5 p.m.
>>
>> The agency also declined an offer from a local police force to launch a
>> drone, Rowe said. The agency's review of the shooting would examine why
>> that
>> offer was declined, he added.
>>
>> "We thought we might have had it covered with the human eye, but clearly
>> we
>> are going to change our approach now, and we are going to leverage [] []
>>
>>
>> Law-enforcement said it had trouble communicating during a July 13 rally
>> where Donald Trump was struck in his ear. BRENDAN MCDERMID/ REUTERS
>>
>> technology and put those unmanned aerial systems up," Rowe said.
>>
>> In the weeks since the shooting, the Biden administration and Congress
>> have
>> opened several inquiries into how Crooks was able to reach a rooftop
>> about
>> 400 feet from the rally stage and open fire on the former president.
>>
>> The Secret Service is confronting that scrutiny during a campaign season
>> where it is picking up additional protectees, including Trump's running
>> mate, Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio.
>>
>> The Secret Service is surging manpower and other resources to ensure the
>> security of protectees, Rowe said.
>> "We're going to make sure that we have all of the resources out there to
>> address any challenges that we have," he added.
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