By Steve Neavling
Republican Party leaders are accusing the Secret Service of failing to provide sufficient protection from demonstrators at the GOP convention in Milwaukee in July.
The Republican National Committee wants the protest zone farther away from the convention site and is demanding the involvement of Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle.
In a letter to Cheatle, RNC counsel Todd Steggerda insisted there was an increased risk of violence at the convention and admonished the Secret Service for not doing enough to protect attendees of the convention.
“Rather than dissipating, the overall security climate has worsened significantly over the past month of the USSS’s inaction,” Steggerda wrote. “Your failure to act now to prevent these unnecessary and certain risks will imperil tens of thousands of Convention attendees, inexcusably forcing them into close proximity to the currently planned First Amendment Zone.”
Steggerda urged Chatle to get personally involved.
“With less than two months before the Convention and even less time before the USSS finalizes the Plan, it is imperative you take personal and immediate steps to fix this unacceptable flaw in the design of the Security Perimeter,” Steggerda wrote.
He added, “The criticality of the situation demands that you immediately provide the appropriate mandate and delegated authority to your team to adjust the Security Perimeter to alleviate these risks.
GOP officials said they want the Secret Service to expand the security perimeter because the current protest area is in too close proximity to the convention around the Fiserv Forum, where the event is set to take place.
