This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire
By Susan Crabtree
Former acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe gave himself a senior leadership “performance” bonus around the holidays in December after previously serving as the second in command of the agency, leading up to the two assassination attempts against President Trump last year, according to multiple knowledgeable sources.
The agency pays nearly everyone in senior executive leadership positions bonuses – many worth thousands of dollars – at the end of the year, and that includes Rowe, the sources said.
Because Rowe was the acting director at the time, he moved forward with giving himself a bonus and then continued to remain on the payroll listed as a “senior advisor” for nearly half of this year – months after Trump tapped Sean Curran as the new director. Rowe could do so by using up all accumulated sick and leave time, sources tell RCP. Rowe has since announced that he had joined the Chertoff Group, the national security consulting firm run by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned in disgrace after Trump was nearly killed at the Butler rally and rallygoer Corey Comperatore was murdered, did not receive a bonus last year because she was no longer employed by the agency at the end of the year, these sources confirmed.
Meanwhile, the first quarterly installment of promised retention bonuses for agents who agreed not to jump ship to another government law enforcement job or retire in the aftermath of the morale-sinking assassination attempts has been delayed for weeks. On Wednesday, USSS leaders once again reassured agents in an email that their promised retention bonuses are coming and would be paid by the end of August.
The information is helping ease some anxiety for agents miffed by multiple retention check delays – an important morale booster as the Secret Service prepares for President Trump’s ride-along tonight with D.C. law enforcement and National Guard troops. Trump wants to see for himself their efforts to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital, but such a hands-on D.C. night tour will pose a complex challenge for the Secret Service, which is charged with the unusual task of protecting a president while accompanying law enforcement officers on patrol.
USSS leadership sent an email to all agents Wednesday after RealClearPolitics once again inquired about the ongoing delays with the first quarterly installment of their retention bonuses. When the funds are fully disbursed over the next year, the retention incentives will amount to tens of thousands of dollars per employee who agreed to stay on the job and not to leave the agency.
The new email updated the agents to let them know that all Uniformed Division officers who deserved the retention bonuses had received them, while the agency was paying other agents in alphabetical order – and had disbursed the funds to agents with last names starting with the letter “A” through “F” so far, a source familiar with the matter told RCP.
Once again, Curran promised that the agency would complete all the retention-bonus payments by the end of the month.
The nearly month-long delay in receiving the retention bonus was caused by a data-processing glitch, sources said, and exacerbated by DOGE personnel cuts and buyouts to the department in charge of doling out the bonuses.
For many in the Service, the first installment of the bonus will amount to 15% of their annual salaries and tens of thousands of dollars once fully received. These agents agreed to sign the bonus offer earlier this year as a way to stem the tide of agents retiring or departing to other agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency or the Homeland Security Department.
Congress provided an extra $231 million to the Secret Service after the assassination attempts last year to help the agency deal with budget shortfalls and severe manpower issues.
The delays in receiving the retention bonuses, coupled with ongoing heavy workloads (European leaders were in town earlier this week, and the agency is preparing for the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next month), have spurred additional resentment among some rank-and-file, captured by a series of memes circulating among agents and UD officers.
After senior leaders received their bonuses last year, some believe there’s been a lack of urgency to deliver the rank-and-file agents their retention bonuses.
“If bosses pay or schedules are affected, things start changing — and that’s about the only way things change,” one insider remarked.
RealClearPolitics first inquired about the missing bonuses on Aug. 5. At the time, an agency spokesman stressed that recruitment and retention are top priorities for Curran and that bonuses would begin to be paid out starting Aug. 11.
“We understand the impact this delay had on our employees and are committed to ensuring it is resolved as quickly as possible,” a spokesman said at the time.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.
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