This is the relevant part of the article:
“That is why on several occasions, the agency has sent agents to train at an 80 percent-scale mock White House in Atlanta, built as a movie set by the filmmaker Tyler Perry. That was built in four months.”
Nothing more than that in the article. It is really just one part of the overall story about all the problems the secret service is having. So the point us they are underfunded?
80 percent-scale mock White House
I’m confused about this part. Does that mean it’s in basic outline correctly-sized but only has 80% as many rooms…
…or that the layout is exactly the same as the original, but everything is 20% smaller? Because then you’ve got issues with all the agents feeling like they’re seven feet tall.
I think they’re funded just fine, but recent events have created some unusual expenditures for the SS.
The NY Daily had a good follow up to this. They’re underfunded for what they’re currently being asked to do. Increased polarization and violent rhetoric is forcing them to guard more and more people. And their funding isn’t matching their increased span of guard duty. They’re working a lot of overtime, not getting paid for it, and quitting.
Also, since they got rolled into the DHS, the DHS has been taking money that should probably go to the Secret Service, and they’ve been using it for immigration policing.
You’re likely hitting a point where the level of protection is very expensive yet spending the money isn’t politically popular. That Trump has had multiple attempts on his life recently and there hasn’t been an increase in funding speaks to the lack of political will.
