The U.S. Secret Service has been frustratingly tight-lipped about its failure to prevent an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, in which a shooter killed one rally-goer and wounded two others in addition to slightly injuring Trump with a missed shot at his head.

Yet, while agency leaders haven't said much, the rank-and-file are beginning to speak out, and the agency has confirmed the authenticity of a leaked internal email from a countersniper that blasted leadership for its failures and "CYA culture," according to The Hill.

Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe was confronted by Republican senators during a hearing on Tuesday and confirmed that the email was real, that he was "hurt" by the complaints therein, and that he would look into allegations that the agency had deleted the harshly critical message.

Secret Service countersniper warns failures will result in more assassination attempts

RealClearPolitics reporter Susan Crabtree was the first to obtain and publish on X a copy of an internal email sent to all members of the Secret Service Uniformed Division by a member of the countersniper team who declared, "I'm not stopping until 5 high-level supervisors (1 down) are either fired or removed from their current positions."

The "1 down" was likely in reference to former USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned in disgrace last week following tough questions from members of both parties during a congressional hearing that she refused or was unable to answer.

"This agency NEEDS to change, if not now, WHEN? The NEXT assassination attempt in 30 days?" the countersniper continued. "Because we all SHOULD expect another attempt to happen before November. We've exposed our inability to protect our leaders due to our leadership."

Countersniper now ashamed of connection to Secret Service

The unnamed Secret Service countersniper went on to assert in the email that the rank-and-file agency employees "DID THEIR JOB with their hands tied" and "made the best of a BAD situation" because their supervisors supposedly "knew better" and overruled the expressed concerns of the "foot soldiers" on the ground.

They also lamented that the agency has "fallen short for YEARS" in its mission and has been "lucky" thus far. They further revealed that they had previously "conveyed these thoughts" to supervisors and trainers, "Only to be brushed off as if those with less experience somehow knew more than me."

The countersniper also said they were no longer proud of being a member of the Secret Service team, which they intended to "hide as I move into my next career," because of "public perception" that the team failed and that "The USSS CS team is a stain I will never be able to cleanse."

The email's author, who claimed to be a seven-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps with 20+ years of experience as a Secret Service countersniper, said their job and responsibility was "DEADLY serious" and that "failure is not an option," but that the agency failed on July 13 not because of the rank-and-file but because "our SUPERVISORS (aka leadership) knew better and thought out concerns were less than important."

"The motto of the USSS ... CYA," they concluded with the acronym for "cover your ass," and added, "And every supervisor is doing it right now."

Republicans call for more Secret Service whistleblowers

The Washington Examiner reported that several Republican senators -- including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who read excerpts of the leaked internal email during Tuesday's hearing -- have now called for more Secret Service whistleblowers to come forward and reveal to Congress and the American people, either anonymously or publicly, what went wrong on July 13 and beyond.

"We need more whistleblowers," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) urged. "We need people inside the agencies who are willing to talk to us, tell the American people what’s really happening."

"I want to underscore the call that has come from multiple senators for whistleblowers," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) echoed. "I believe the rational inference from the evidence we know now is it was political bias at the top, at the leadership of the Secret Service, that led to insufficient agents and insufficient resources being devoted to protecting President Trump."