The Secret Service is scrambling to fix a problem that's been brewing for over a decade.
The agency failed before and they're promising to do better this time.
And the Secret Service just made one desperate move that has experts shaking their heads.
The Secret Service announced they're launching one of the most ambitious hiring efforts in the agency's history.
Officials want to add 4,000 new employees by 2028 – a 20% increase that would push total staffing past 10,000 for the first time ever.
Trump Assassination Attempt Exposed Decade of Failures
The hiring surge comes after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania nearly killed the 45th President.
Trump was struck by a bullet that grazed his ear after 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired eight rounds from an AR-15 rifle from a nearby building's roof.
One rally attendee was killed and two others were critically injured.
The incident became the Secret Service's most significant security failure since the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
Multiple investigations revealed catastrophic breakdowns in communication, planning, and leadership.
A bipartisan Senate committee found the failures were "foreseeable, preventable" and that many problems "remain unaddressed" by the Secret Service.¹
The agency failed to secure the building Crooks used because nobody could even answer who was responsible for securing it.
Local law enforcement warned the Secret Service about that vulnerability on Tuesday before the Saturday rally.
Butler Township Police Officer Drew Blasko told them to "post guys over here" to cover the rooftop.
Nobody listened and Trump nearly paid with his life.
Secret Service Already Failed This Exact Plan Once Before
Here's what has experts worried.
The Secret Service already tried this.
The agency attempted to reach 10,000 employees over roughly ten years ending in 2025.
They failed spectacularly.
Leadership turnover, the pandemic, and Obama administration hiring freezes killed the plan.²
The service fell far short of recruitment and retention goals despite offering some of the biggest financial incentives of any federal law enforcement agency.
Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the agency will have to "eliminate all the management and red-tape barriers" to hit the new targets.
"They are going to have to turn headquarters into a hiring machine," Napolitano stated.³
One recently retired senior Secret Service official was even more blunt.
"I hope they have success in getting those numbers as much as anybody, but it's not realistic," the former official said. "There's no part of law enforcement that's not struggling to hire."⁴
Perfect Storm Brewing for 2028 "Armageddon"
The pressure will explode in 2028.
Some in the agency privately refer to 2028 as "Armageddon" because of the extraordinary security demands that year.⁵
Trump will be term-limited, meaning both major parties are expected to have competitive primaries that dramatically increase the number of protectees.
The eventual nominees, their running mates, and their spouses will all receive full-time Secret Service details.
The agency is also tasked with coordinating protection around the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles – scheduled for the last two weeks of July and August, right in the middle of campaign season.
About one-third of the Secret Service workforce will be retirement-eligible before 2028 starts.⁶
Many experienced agents hired after 9/11 are approaching retirement, and the agency has already seen an exodus of experienced personnel to other agencies and private sector security firms.
Deputy Director Matthew Quinn admitted the harsh reality.
"No matter what, I don't care how successful we are," Quinn said, "it's still going to be a rough summer."⁷
Quinn acknowledged money won't solve the fundamental problem.
"Our mindset is, we aren't going to pay our way out of this," Quinn explained. "We can't create enough incentives to negate the fact that we're working our people very, very hard."⁸
The Secret Service is competing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for training space and recruits as both agencies hire aggressively for Trump's immigration crackdown.
Former officials worry Secret Service recruits will take a back seat to training ICE agents.
Getting hired involves multiple rounds of interviews, intensive background checks, and a notoriously tough polygraph test that can take well over a year.
The Secret Service claims they've compressed the timeline to under 12 months and hope to cut another four months off.
That means they need to hire and train 4,000 people in just over three years while experienced agents are retiring and leaving for better jobs.
And they already failed to do exactly this once before.
Now they're making the same promises they broke before and expecting different results.
¹ "Secret Service agents failed to take charge of decision-making for security at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally," CNN, September 25, 2024.
² "An attempt to reach 10,000 employees over a roughly 10-year period ending in 2025 failed," Just The News, January 5, 2026.
³ "They are going to have to turn headquarters into a hiring machine," The Washington Post, January 4, 2026.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ "Some in the Secret Service have privately referred to the year as 'Armageddon,'" The Washington Post, January 4, 2026.
⁶ "About a third of the workforce will be retirement-eligible before the start of 2028," The Washington Post, January 4, 2026.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ "We can't create enough incentives to negate the fact that we're working our people very, very hard," Just The News, January 5, 2026.
