Retired Rock Island Secret Service agent says Butler was 'poorest example of an advance'

Former U.S. Secret Service agent Bill Albracht did not mince words in his criticism of the advance team for former President Donald Trump's campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, this summer.

"It was the poorest example of an advance that I have ever seen," Albracht said.

At an outdoor rally on July 13, gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight rounds from the roof of a nearby building at Trump, grazing his ear, killing a rally attendee, and injuring two others before Crooks was killed by a counter sniper.

Albracht was the keynote speaker Thursday evening at an annual Scott County Republican fundraiser, the Ronald Reagan Dinner.

Albracht, who grew up in Rock Island, served in the U.S. Secret Service for 25 years, protecting six presidents and their families as well as foreign dignitaries. He retired in 2001 as the assistant special agent in charge of the Secret Services, Washington D.C. office. He moved to Bettendorf in 2017.

He said he's in close contact with senior members of the Secret Service, including a former director, about the failures of the agency on July 13.

"We are aghast. We are appalled," Albracht said. "And what happened there? High ground, high ground. Nobody ever, ever, did not cover the high ground. But yet, it was uncovered."

Albracht gave an example from the mid-1980s in Jakarta, Indonesia, when he did an advance for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. Albracht said Bush was to appear at an embassy courtyard, which was secure except for a nearby skyscraper.

"It was really tough on resources to get every floor that was unfinished so it would be protected," he said. "I had them build — build — a four story by 40-foot plywood wall to block the view from on top of there. That is how seriously we take this.

"So, for somebody to just overlook this, it's a sin, as far as we're concerned, it's absolutely incompetence of a higher order," Albracht continued. "They should have been fired — the site agent, the advance agent, and the head of the Pittsburgh Office because that's their only responsibility. The captain of the ship, there's an iceberg ahead, sleeping at three o'clock in the morning. That's your fault."

Investigations have found several problems contributed to the failure to prevent the attempted assassination. For example, no specific law enforcement agency was designated to secure the roof of the building Crooks fired from and law enforcement lost track of Crooks despite being identified as acting suspiciously before he opened fire.

Albracht said he thought the Secret Service leaders unfairly blamed local law enforcement for the failures of the Secret Service. He also criticized now-resigned director Kimberly Cheatle as misguided in pushing for quotas of female agents — she'd set a goal of 30% of the Secret Service to be female by 2030.

Answering questions from reporters after the event, Albracht said the recent assassination attempts have in his view been a result of incompetence, lack of manpower and lack of training.

Albracht commanded combat troops at 21

The U.S. Secret Service was started in 1865 to investigate counterfeit money, Albracht said. After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, the Secret Service expanded to protect presidents. Since then, the U.S. Secret Service has expanded to protect families, candidates and foreign dignitaries.

Before working for the Secret Service, Albracht served in the Green Berets and at age 21 was the youngest captain to command combat troops in Vietnam. He received numerous medals, including Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, and Bronze Stars for his service. A contingent of supporters have for more than a decade pushed for his award to be upgraded to a Medal of Honor for saving the lives of 150 men in a rural outpost in Vietnam.

Albracht said he started at the Secret Service in 1975 at the Springfield/Chicago District, then the New York field office, where he was part of an undercover squad that detected counterfeiters.

Then, he joined a counter assault team for former President Ronald Reagan, which was formed to respond immediately to threats, especially as a protectee travels in a motorcade.

A spot opened up, then, on Reagan's detail, but Albracht said he wanted to be on the vice president, George H.W. Bush's detail, because he traveled more.

Albracht said he returned to the Quad-Cities from 1989 to 1998 to raise his and his wife's kids. Then he was called back to Washington, D.C. to be a supervisor.

Now, at age 76, he drives once every month or so as part of an interview panel at the Chicago office to interview new candidates for the Secret Service.

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Davenport, Scott County, local politics