Blame is being laid left and right for the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday that left the former President injured and a supporter dead.
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Some have blamed Democrats’ rhetoric for fanning partisan tensions; conspiracy theorists baselessly suggest the incident was staged by Trump himself; and a growing cohort, particularly on the right, is zeroing in on the failures of the Secret Service and its supposed prioritization of “DEI”—the acronymous shorthand for initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, which Republicans have opposed across federal agencies, schools, and other organizations, as well as at the state level.
Footage focused on the female agents in Trump’s security detail quickly gained traction on social media, along with re-circulated clips of a CBS report from 2023 that repeated the Secret Service’s goal to increase its representation of women to 30% by 2030.
“DEI got someone killed,” the inflammatory account Libs of TikTok said in a post on X that’s been seen by millions.
In retweets and replies, billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman—who each announced their endorsements of Trump after the attempted assassination—seemingly agreed with the narrative that “diversity hires” were at fault for security lapses that led to the shooting.
Meghan McCain, daughter of former GOP presidential nominee John McCain, shared a post by right-wing commentator Matt Walsh, who said: “There should not be any women in the Secret Service. These are supposed to be the very best, and none of the very best at this job are women.”
“Somebody really dropped the ball,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday. “You got a DEI—basically a DEI initiative person who heads up our Secret Service,” he said. “This is what happens when you don’t put the best players in.”
Here’s what to know about the history—and increasing controversy—of women in the agency tasked with protecting the most important officials in the U.S.
A brief history of women in the Secret Service
Kimberly Cheatle, who was appointed the director of the Secret Service by President Joe Biden in 2022, is the second-ever female chief of the agency. While critics, including Rep. Burchett and Musk, have made fun of her recent background working for the corporation PepsiCo, Cheatle had risen through the ranks of the Secret Service over a more than two-decade-long career that included being the first female assistant director of protective operations.
And while Cheatle has been a vocal advocate for more women joining the security industry, the Secret Service has welcomed women for more than 50 years before she took its helm.
Cheatle told Security Magazine in 2022 that she had propped on her desk a photo of the first five female Special Agents, who were sworn-in in 1971, “to remind me that these women created opportunities for me and I can help others grow and lead as well.” (The first female officer of the Executive Protective Service was sworn-in in 1970.)
According to the Secret Service, at the time the first female agents were hired, they were “expected to do everything the men do”—including hand-to-hand combat, marksmanship, first aid, and more—“and will receive equal pay.”
A 2021 recruitment brochure states: “Embracing a diverse and inclusive workforce enables the Secret Service to be more responsive and better prepared to address the evolving security threats facing our nation’s leaders, financial systems, and critical infrastructure.”
Today, as has been the case for years, all Secret Service agents must meet the same basic qualifications and are subject to rigorous training, though women are held to lower standards than men for physical fitness assessments.
In April 2021, before Cheatle was appointed director, women outnumbered men for the first time in the graduating Special Agent Training Class. Still, women comprise just 24% of the agency’s total workforce of over 7,500 employees.
Recent controversy surrounding the Secret Service
The notoriously male-dominated Secret Service has faced years of criticisms, under both male and female leadership, not just for repeated security breaches but also for a range of alleged misconduct and scandals, including harassing and assaulting female colleagues, hiring prostitutes, preying on minors, and driving while drunk.
While security lapses have continued to make headlines in recent years, the GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee first questioned the role of “DEI” in the agency in May after an incident at Joint Base Andrews in April that led to a female agent being removed from her duties as part of Vice President Kamala Harris’ detail. The Secret Service said the agent, identified in media reports as Michelle Herczeg, displayed “behavior their colleagues found distressing” and attributed it to a “medical matter.” Conservative outlets highlighted Herczeg’s history of filing a gender discrimination lawsuit (which was later dismissed) against the city of Dallas, where she was previously a police officer.
“How Herczeg came to be in the vice president’s employ after such an experience is an open question, as security for the president and those in his orbit are expected to have spotless backgrounds and years of experience,” reads an op-ed in the National Review. “It’s fair to wonder whether the Secret Service’s signing on to the 30×30 initiative, a pledge to have women be 30 percent of all law enforcement by 2030, could have forced the qualification of Herczeg, given that her record was below the level expected of male officers.”
And RealClearPolitics reported: “Following the bizarre scuffle at Andrews, Secret Service agents and officers began privately questioning whether the agency had adequately screened Herczeg’s background and whether she met the same rigorous mental and physical training requirements the agency has previously imposed on other agents to qualify for a vice-presidential protective detail.”
In a response to the House Oversight interrogation, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement: “U.S. Secret Service employees, whose work is vital to the continuity of government, are held to the highest professional standards. At no time has the agency lowered these standards.”
What’s next for the Secret Service
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) published a letter late Saturday formally inviting Cheatle to testify before the oversight committee, which he chairs, at a hearing on July 22.
“I thank the brave Secret Service members who put their lives at risk to protect President Trump,” Comer wrote on X, while adding that there remain “many questions and Americans demand answers.”
The Secret Service, which is still investigating the shooting, has so far denied two specific allegations: that the agency turned down requests for more security resources ahead of the rally, which spokesperson Guglielmi called “absolutely false”; and that it diverted resources away from Trump’s event to another attended by First Lady Jill Biden.
President Biden said that he has also called for an “independent review of the national security” at the Pennsylvania rally as well as asked Cheatle to “review all security measures” for the Republican National Convention, which takes place this week in Wisconsin.
The Secret Service said it is confident in its security measures for the convention, which have been in the works for 18 months, and it has no plans to change course.