The Secret Service is in trouble---and new
director Joseph Clancy thinks their training facilities are to blame.
During testimony before a House committee yesterday, Clancy went on defense against concerns about
systemic problems within the organization tasked with defending the President of the United States. He claimed that the Service's lack of adequate training facilities are partially to blame for
recent scandals, and asked the panel for $8 million in appropriations for a new, "real life" facility that mimics the White House and surrounding grounds.
From the
New York Times:
“Right now, we train on a parking lot, basically,” Mr. Clancy said. “We put up a makeshift fence and walk off the distance between the fence at the White House and the actual house itself. We don’t have the bushes, we don’t have the fountains, we don’t get a realistic look at the White House.”
Joseph P. Clancy, the Secret Service director, faced aggressive questioning Tuesday from the House Appropriations Committee about a crash at the White House. Mr. Clancy added, “It’s important to have a true replica of what the White House is so we can do a better job of this integrated training between our uniform division officers, our agents and our tactical teams.”
This of course begs the question---
what does a training facility have to do with incompetence and cover-ups? It's possible that the answer is "nothing," and that Clancy is asking for this funding because he sees a problem with agent training that's completely separate from the
drinking, droning, and deadly mistakes that have peppered the news cycle.
It's also possible that Clancy stared down into
the void and has no idea where to go from here.