Alarmed by what it sees as a significantly worsening security threat, the Republican National Committee asked the director of the Secret Service to step in personally on Thursday and grant a request from participants in this summer's party convention in Milwaukee to move the designated protest area.
Republicans have been demanding for nearly a month that the Secret Service turn protesters away from the convention site, and a letter from Republican National Committee counsel Todd R. Stegerda has stepped up that demand with seven weeks until the convention starts on July 15.
“Failure to act now to prevent these unnecessary and certain risks will put tens of thousands of convention attendees at risk and inexcusably drive them into close proximity to currently planned First Amendment zones,” Steggerda wrote to Secret Service Director Kimberly A. Cheatle, referring to the designated protest site at Pere Marquette Park, a small public park on the banks of the Milwaukee River about a quarter-mile from the convention site.
In a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times, Stegerda cited “an increasing and unacceptable risk of violence” due to a “rapidly deteriorating security environment” and urged Cheatle to step in. The Secret Service is tasked with overseeing security for both major political party conventions this summer.
Republicans have previously argued that the current plan would force convention attendees to pass protesters on their way into the venue, creating more opportunity for confrontations.
In a lengthy statement responding to Stegerda's letter, the Secret Service said officials had held “multiple meetings” with the chairman of the Republican National Committee, convention staff and involved senators, and that the agency was “confident in the security plans being developed.”
Secret Service public affairs director Anthony Guglielmi also criticized Stegarda for endangering the safety of convention-goers by sharing details of security plans that have yet to be finalized or made public — exactly the concerns Stegarda had.
“Publicizing security information, such as in this letter, undermines our ability to maintain the integrity of our security plans and keep our convention, attendees and the public safe,” Guglielmi said.
Both parties are concerned about deep political divisions that have led to a surge in threats of political violence. The Democratic National Convention scheduled for August in Chicago is attracting close attention because of expected protests, mainly by Palestinian human rights activists.
But Republicans say they are already seeing threats of violence against supporters of their presumptive nominee, former President Donald J. Trump. Last month, a man set himself on fire outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump is on criminal trial, and on Wednesday a suspicious package containing two vials of blood led to a lockdown of the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington.
Some protesters have already vowed not to remain confined to designated demonstration sites in Milwaukee, just as some have said they will not apply for permits in Chicago or be held there.
Some Milwaukee city officials have made it clear they want the security perimeter to be as tight as possible so as not to disrupt the city's summer activity, Wisconsin's most important economic season.
Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, said the city is willing to listen to the concerns of convention planners, but disputed Steggerda's assertion that the current security plan has “serious flaws.”
“We recognize that the security zones are set based on the extensive experience of all our law enforcement partners,” he added. “If they said, 'Oh, we need four more blocks to the east or west,' we would respect that decision. That's not what law enforcement experts are saying.”
A Secret Service official said it's the city, not the Secret Service, that designates protest areas.
“Our security perimeter is based on public safety standards that include protected information, risk and threat assessments,” Guglielmi added. “Our model is designed to minimize impact to the public while ensuring the highest level of security.”
Given the close proximity of convention attendees and protesters, Stegerda said the Secret Service should extend security at the walled convention to Pere Marquette Park and the protest area to Zeidler Union Square, about a half-mile south, to provide convention attendees with “essential but unobtrusive physical separation from expected demonstrators.”
According to the letter, Secret Service officials told event planners that the increased security presence was not legal, but Stegerda denied that.
“With less than two months until the Games and even less time until the USSS finalizes its plans, it is imperative that I, as an individual, take immediate steps to correct this unacceptable flaw in the design of the security perimeter,” he wrote.