COLUMBUS, Ohio — Retired Secret Service Agent Nick Steen not only protected the lives of sitting presidents but also those running for the job, including then-candidate Donald Trump.
From his home in Atlanta, Steen spoke to 10TV Reporter Kevin Landers about Saturday’s attempted assassination of the former president.
Steen joined another former secret service agent who called the event "a failure" when it comes to security.
“It is a failure, something went wrong in our plan that allowed the act to happen. I would caution everybody before you disparage the law enforcement and other law enforcement, let’s let the facts play out, let's see what the Secret Service response is and if actions need to be taken, let's allow those to play out,” said Steen.
There are a lot of questions about how the Secret Service, which was in charge of security for the event, missed a man who gained access to the roof of a building nearby.
Landers posed questions of whose responsibility it was to secure the perimeter and how could they miss someone at an elevated target at an event like the rally.
Steen answered, “That is obviously the question of the day. To answer the first question, yes the Secret Service has ultimate responsibility.”
Steen was the special agent in charge when he protected former presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.
He explained why Secret Service agents kept Trump on the stage instead of immediately taking him away.
“That was not unusual what you saw there. They were hunkering down over the protectee, using their body and body armor... for additional protection," Steen said. "If you don't know where the shots are coming from, you don't want to be running towards the shots. You see a head wound, you don't know what you have. If I move him too quickly and throw him in a limo, am I going to be doing more damage? Do I need to stop the bleeding do we need to do more while we're here?"
Steen said what people need to remember is that Saturday’s event was not a presidential rally, so the protection of Trump is not the same as a sitting president.
“There was some elevated levels of protection, but does he have the level of protection that a sitting president would have? Certainly not,” he said.
Whose job was it to secure the building where the gunman fired at Trump?
Steen has an intimate understanding of how venues are supposed to be secured. Security at this event in particular was a combined effort between the Secret Service along with state and local police.
"There’s an outer perimeter, a middle perimeter and inside perimeter and so the shooter would have been outside the outside perimeter that weren’t secured," Steen said. "Why that area was not secured? Why that rooftop wasn’t posted, if it wasn’t; like everybody else, I don’t have the answers right now."
Reports say the shooter was about 500 feet from the stage. That’s more than the length of a football field — about 166 yards.
“I've heard people mention drone technology things like that. There are probably a myriad of of things that can be added as we do the analysis. We will figure where we need to go from there,” said Steen.
This raises another question: Will Saturday’s shooting allow campaigns to continue outdoor events?
“Undoubtedly, it will have some impact. We will have to see how it plays out. Was there a mistake in our current secret service protocols? How do we site advance better? Was there a mistake made there that led to this? Maybe we don’t need to adjust anything, maybe we need to be more careful about what we are doing,” he said.
Steen admits what happened Saturday was a security failure. Whose failure is unclear for now.
“Something went wrong in our plans that allowed that to happen,” said Steen.
“Foundationally, one of the most basic elements of site security, especially a site that’s outside and largely uncontrolled, is (to) eliminate sight lines to this space where the protectee will be either speaking or just occupying,” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning. “When you look at that map, it so clearly points to those buildings that are within it, clearly within shooting range.”
The FBI is now in charge of the investigation into the attempted assassination.