During a news conference on Monday, the acting director of the United States Secret Service called for the agency to undergo a “paradigm shift.”
Ronald Rowe, the acting director, shared the news after Secret Service members stopped a would-be assassin on Sunday from firing at former President Donald Trump. The attempt has left officials scrambling, as it marks the second attempt on his life within two months, the first of which happened at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
“Coming out of Butler, I have ordered a paradigm shift,” Rowe said at the news conference. “The Secret Service’s protective methodologies work, and they are sound, and we saw that yesterday.”
Rowe went on to say that the agency needs “to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model.”
Rowe took over as the acting director after his predecessor stepped down in the days after the attempt on Trump’s life in Pennsylvania.
While he shared that changes are needed, he did not go into detail on what he envisions for the future of the 160-year-old agency.
The suspect in the latest attempt, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was not able to fire at Trump, as Secret Service members spotted him and opened fire in response to the threat.
Routh has been taken into custody and charged with federal gun crimes.
Still, the Secret Service has been heavily criticized for what some have called a failure to protect the former president and GOP nominee.
In July, Trump was struck by a bullet in the ear after a gunman was able to climb onto a roof and set up with a rifle before taking aim and shooting several rounds at Trump during an outdoor rally. After spotting him, Secret Service members quickly returned fire, killing him in the process.
Many have called the Butler shooting the biggest failure for the agency since 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was shot and injured.
As for Sunday’s assassination attempt, Rowe didn’t offer much to the media when questioned about it on Monday, though he did say everything that they can do is being done.
“I’ve had a conversation with the former president,” he said. “The president is aware that he has the highest levels of protection that the Secret Service provides. We constantly evaluate based on threat. If we need to ratchet it up additionally, we will.”