Shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris was heading toward the White House when the SUV she was being driven in was involved in a minor accident after hitting the curb. The impact was hard enough that the tire was blown out and had to be replaced. Harris, unharmed, was transferred to another Secret Service vehicle to continue the commute.
Accidents happen, of course, though one would think the government agent responsible for transporting the vice president of the United States would be more careful, but that's not the only part of the story raising eyebrows. Something else caught The Washington Post's attention.
According to the paper's sources, the incident was initially, and falsely, labeled a "mechanical failure."
The routine nature of the travel and the high level of training required for agents who drive the president and vice president led many in the Secret Service, as well as Harris, to question how such an accident could happen.
The Secret Service also failed to note key details of the incident in an electronic message formally alerting senior leadership to the motorcade’s delay. The agency’s protective intelligence division reported that “a mechanical failure” in the lead car had forced agents to transfer Harris to another vehicle during a scheduled movement to the White House, according to details of the alert shared with The Washington Post.
By Monday afternoon, Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle received information from other agents that the alert did not accurately convey what happened, one of the people said. In fact, many other Secret Service agents on Harris’s detail and at the White House, as well as Harris, knew her driver had actually hit the side pavement of a tunnel. (WaPo)
The Secret Service attributed the accident to a "minor overcorrection" by the driver and emphasized that no one was injured. And while the formal written alert did not include the details of the incident, the Secret Service spokesperson said it was later relayed to supervisors in person.
WaPo then hit the agency for its history of "covering up its own mistakes and misconduct."
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Cheatle, who is the second woman to lead the Secret Service, has been in the job for a month after President Biden named her the new director in late August. She has confided to allies that she was disturbed by the inaccuracy of the alert related to the Harris accident, according to one Secret Service official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions, and was relieved to get the fuller account later that day. A spokesman declined to comment on what information Cheatle received or her reaction.
The Secret Service has had a long, troubled history of covering up its own mistakes and misconduct, with the most senior leaders and managers often relying on the shroud of secrecy covering presidential security to cover up agency foibles and failures.
The Secret Service misled the public and the first family about a shooting at the White House in 2011, claiming it was a group of gang members shooting at each other when they had information the shooter was trying to kill President Barack Obama. In 2014, the Service gave incorrect information about a mentally troubled veteran who was able to jump the White House fence, reporting that he was not armed when he was, and that he was stopped at the door when he actually got deep inside the White House mansion. After a night of drinking at an agent’s retirement party in 2015, the most senior agent in charge of White House security drove with another senior supervisor onto the White House grounds and through an area closed due to an ongoing investigation of a possible bomb. Despite dozens of Secret Service personnel being aware of the incident, no one reported it to the director at the time. Director Joseph Clancy learned of the security breach from a former agent and friend. (WaPo)
The Secret Service spokesperson pushed back on criticism of the miscommunication, however, arguing the incident "is not a misconduct issue at all."
Language warning:
According to this tiktok user, VP Kamala Harris' motorcade crashed yesterday morning. I've seen no news reports of this strange incident. ?? pic.twitter.com/Vd49UvryhT
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) October 4, 2022
