Part 2/9:
Schlickter does not hold back in expressing his outrage over the recent revelations concerning the Secret Service’s handling of the assassination attempt in Butler. The agents involved received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days, but this perceived punishment hardly seems commensurate with the gravity of the failure.
He describes the incident as “gross incompetence,” highlighting that untrained, awkward teenagers had managed to get within 200 meters of the President armed with a rifle and scope, stationed on an exposed rooftop — a security breach so severe it defies logic. Schlickter emphasizes that such a lapse is not just a minor oversight but a systemic failure that nearly resulted in the President’s death, leaving an American citizen dead and others wounded.