A new report out of the inspector general’s office details the "inadequate" resources at the disposal of the U.S. Marshals Service to protect members of the federal bench.
WASHINGTON (CN) — The U.S. Marshals Service isn’t equipped to protect federal judges from escalating threats, the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General reported late Wednesday, sounding an alarm nearly one year after the outbreak of civil unrest in Portland, Oregon, thrust the agency into the national spotlight.
Several task force officers have been shot since the violent summer of 2020, and Wednesday's report outlines what the Marshals Service needs to continue serving their purpose: ensuring the safety of over 2,700 sitting judges and 30,000 federal prosecutors and officials across the country. The agency also protects the deputy attorney general and secures federal courthouses.
“While USMS officials have identified, and sought to implement improvements to its protective intelligence and threat identification capabilities, we identified serious challenges facing the USMS,” the report says. Limited resources and competing budget priorities, for example, have made it difficult for the agency to staff up enough to meet growing threats against federal judges.
Since 2016, threats against federal judges jumped 400%, with more than 4,000 made in 2020 alone. The issue culminated in June 2020, when the family of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas opened the door of their New Jersey home to a disgruntled lawyer posing as a FedEx deliveryman. The judge's 20-year-old son was killed, but her husband, defense attorney Mark Anderl, survived the shooting.
In Seattle, U.S. District Judge James Robart received harassment after he ruled against former President Donald Trump’s travel ban from majority Muslim countries in early 2017. Trump would later tweet that Robart, who was appointed under President George W. Bush, was a “so-called” judge.
Legislation allowing federal judges to remove personal information from social media stalled in the Senate in December.
According to the report, the Marshals Service doesn’t have adequate resources to detect and monitor threats online. In 2018, the agency’s Office of Protective Intelligence found that the Marshals Service was “overextended” and “unable to handle the growing workload,” as the office saw an 89% increase in security incidents from 2016 to 2019.
The intelligence office determined that the agency needs advanced technology and updated practices to prevent the escalating threats from becoming a reality. It responded to the inspector general’s report by touting the expansion of protection units and modernization of its security system — efforts that will take three years to complete.
The Marshals Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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