EXCLUSIVE — The Naval Criminal Investigative Service tells the Washington Examiner it has launched an internal review following an incident on Monday in which pro-Palestinian protesters closely surrounded Secretary of the Navy John Phelan as he spoke at an event in Washington, D.C.
The NCIS regularly and openly advertises its responsibility for protecting Phelan, the Chief of Naval Operations, and certain other military officials in their conduct of official duties. The federal law enforcement agency is also responsible for prominent investigations pertaining to the Navy and Marine Corps, including those related to counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and corruption.
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Still, video of the incident on Monday shows notable protective security failures. The incident begins with three protesters marching onto the stage, shouting and waving a placard. Two suited individuals, apparently NCIS agents, then enter the stage and attempt to move the protesters off it. But they struggle to do so, unsupported by local event security or other law enforcement officers. At this point, a fourth protester with a flag walks behind Phelan, provoking the Secretary’s open concern. “Jim,” Phelan says, pointing behind him and seeking the attention of an NCIS agent, “Behind me.” At this point, an NCIS agent moves to bring that fourth protester off stage. A third NCIS agent is then shown to the left of the screen, shuffling the protesters off stage, but apparently only becomes involved after a significant delay.
The incident underlines a number of protective security failures.
First, there are clearly insufficient NCIS posts on the immediate approaches to the stage or backstage. This is a basic security tactic to limit entry to the stage and provide availability to provide protection quickly if needed.
Second, the NCIS agents focus on the protesters more than they do on Phelan’s own security. This conflicts with protecting security training, which teaches agents that protesters may be a distraction to allow assassins to get close to a protectee. This is why U.S. Secret Service security details will regularly “close up” around a protectee when protesters storm a stage, letting other personnel remove protesters. A similar dynamic is also often apparent when protesters interrupt hearings by senior government officials on Capitol Hill. Here, security details will move to block protester access to their protectee, waiting for the Capitol Police to remove the protesters.
In this case, had the fourth flag-waving protester been an assassin, he would easily have been able to attack Phelan. Even worse, it was only when Phelan signaled to his detail that the protester was behind him that they recognized that possible threat. And as a 1992 incident involving then former President Ronald Reagan showed, even protesters who do not intend physical harm can inadvertently cause harm to a protectee via their chosen act of protest.
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The Washington Examiner asked the NCIS a number of questions on Monday, including whether NCIS Director Omar Lopez had any comment. In response, the NCIS responded on Tuesday that “An internal review is ongoing regarding the security posture and response for yesterday’s event. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further.”
The Navy Secretary might not be a Cabinet official. Still, he would be a priority target for intimidation or assassination in a major war with Russia (Russian military doctrine prioritizes assassinations of top enemy officials at the start of a conflict) or China (PLA doctrine prioritizes surprise asymmetric attacks).