Secret Service Failure – A Lesson in Complacency

The recent news about short-comings in the Secret Service is appalling.  A fence-jumper running loose on White House grounds and inside the residence, an ex-felon carrying a handgun riding in an elevator with the President, and bullets striking 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  And these events were all on top of the scandal of Secret Service personnel engaging in sexual escapades while in foreign lands two years ago on official duties.

What happened to what used to be considered an elite, highly professional force dedicated to protecting the President from harm?

Have its members – or at least many of them – simply become lazy or complacent and thus less professional and competent?

Such would appear to be the case.

However, some have suggested that professionalism  among frontline agents is not lacking.  Rather, supervisors have ignored necessary training and have let political and convenience considerations take precedence over security concerns.  Maybe, but an Agent at the front door who fails to lock it can hardly blame that oversight on inadequate training.

Some fellow conservatives have responded to these alarming stories with a certain nonchalance:  “what do you expect from the government?”   The recent IRS and Veterans Administration problems are cited as illustrations of incompetence, malfeasance and indifference to job performance that permeates all federal bureaucracies.

This reaction has merit but it’s not entirely fair. 

I have no doubt that many government employees are attracted to federal employment by the lure of public service.  People who serve in law enforcement, healthcare and other occupations undoubtedly were filled with pride when they began their service.  I particularly include the Secret Service, given its storied past and previously deserved reputation as an elite governmental unit.

But human nature is a constant.  The best of intentions can be subsumed by self-interest, whether it be one’s comfort, ease or desire for power.  It is a difficult temptation to resist.  Accordingly, people are inclined to think that what one desires is OK because, after all, they’re well motivated – or so they tell themselves.  An objective observer, however, might see a conflict that is ignored. 

People in the government are, of course, just like the rest of us in being afflicted with the frailties of human kind.

But the government, and its bureaucrats, have powers ad authority the rest of us lack.  So their conduct deserves and requires extra scrutiny.

The Secret Service has not had a subject of its protective responsibilities harmed since 1981 when President Reagan was shot.  Over thirty-three years later, it must have been tempting to think that, since nothing had happened in decades, nothing would happen in the future.

Of course, that sentiment is the result of wishful thinking.  It’s stupid and dangerous.  It is, in fact, foolish complacency.

Human nature will not change, no matter how much one might exhort it to be otherwise.  Those in power are subject to its corrupting influences.

The solution?  Fresh blood -- supervisors imbued with a real sense of public service who can foster and demand adherence to appropriate standards that prevent complacency.  And those filling such roles cannot be allowed to fill them for long lest they, too, become complacent.