Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,
The U.S. Secret Service missed multiple opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024, including missing more than 102 radio transmissions warning of a suspicious person, a Department of Homeland Security report concluded.
The report, released on July 2 by the department’s Office of Inspector General, chronicles a series of communication failures, inadequate planning, limited intelligence sharing, and security lapses that combined to create the conditions that allowed gunman Thomas Crooks to open fire from the roof of a nearby building during a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler. Crooks was fatally shot by a Secret Service agent.
Among the report’s most significant findings was that Secret Service members did not receive 102 radio transmissions “that local law enforcement officers in a separate communications room received concerning an increasingly intense search for a suspicious person. Instead, we found that the Secret Service received only five phone calls and three text messages about Crooks. As a result, Secret Service members did not alert President Trump’s protective detail about concerns of a suspicious person.”
The Secret Service would have delayed Trump’s speech or removed him from the stage had they been aware of the search for Crooks, the report stated.
The report also said the Secret Service failed to detect a drone that Crooks flew over the rally site about two hours before the shooting. Investigators said the agency’s counter-drone system was inoperable because of a malfunction, and the lone operator assigned to the event lacked sufficient training to repair the equipment. The system remained offline while Crooks flew the drone for nearly nine minutes, allowing him to survey both the stage and the rooftop he later used to carry out the attack.
The report also found serious communication breakdowns between the Secret Service and local law enforcement. The Secret Service never received three radio reports from law enforcement that Crooks had climbed onto a roof with a rifle.
The inspector general also found that classified intelligence concerning a long-range threat to Trump was not shared with the Pittsburgh field office or agents responsible for planning security at the rally. The report said broader dissemination of that intelligence likely would have resulted in additional security personnel being assigned to the event.
Investigators further concluded that the Secret Service failed to ensure the American Glass Research complex, where Crooks launched the attack, was secured by state and local law enforcement. In addition, the agency did not use available resources to block the rooftop’s line of sight to the stage, despite recognizing it as a potential vulnerability.
The inspector general issued seven recommendations to improve protective operations. The Secret Service agreed with all of them, and the report said some have already been implemented while others remain in progress.
Tyler Durden Fri, 07/03/2026 - 11:30Following up from the announcement earlier this year when the Department of Energy (DOE) chose multiple companies to receive grant money for restoring domestic uranium enrichment capacity, Centrus Energy has now finalized a contract valued over $1 billion (including options).
"Centrus is competing for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand U.S. enrichment capacity."
Competing with whom?
How much you need? $5BN? $10BN? $20BN? Done https://t.co/i1t7vf3bdl
Centrus will transition the existing cascade at their Ohio plant from a government-supply production line to commercial operations.
The centrifuges in the current cascade can produce about 900 kg of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) per year. The company has produced about 1,900 kg for the DOE since initial production began in 2023.
The transition to full scale commercial operations has been dragged out through multiple phases over the past decade:
2019 DOE demonstration contract: Centrus’ earlier HALEU work began as a technology demonstration. DOE contracted with Centrus to license, build, and operate a small centrifuge cascade at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. The goal was to prove US enrichment technology could produce HALEU domestically.
2022 Production contract: DOE moved the project from demonstration to limited production. This allowed Centrus to begin producing HALEU for DOE using the Piketon cascade.
2023 HALEU production milestone: Centrus delivered the initial 20 kilograms of HALEU to the DOE.
2025 Contract extension: DOE extended Centrus’ production work through June 30, 2026. This kept the demonstration cascade operating and allowed Centrus to finish producing the initial 900 kg of HALEU.
January 2026 DOE award: DOE selected Centrus for a $900 million HALEU enrichment capacity award. Additional awards were announced for General Matter, Orano, and Global Laser Enrichment.
Tyler Durden Fri, 07/03/2026 - 11:10