U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe just recently took over for disgraced former Director Kimberly Cheatle but he is already on the heat seat over the agency's failure to prevent the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Rowe is facing tough questions from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) based on allegations raised by whistleblowers that directly link his actions to the security shortcomings at the event, Fox News reported.

Specifically, the whistleblower alleged that a proper threat assessment was not done for the rally site, that Rowe personally ordered cuts to the threat assessment team, and that he allowed for and contributed to retaliation against agents who raised valid concerns about inadequate security measures at prior Trump events.

Proper threat assessment not done ahead of Butler rally

On Thursday, just days after a contentious exchange during a Senate hearing, Sen. Hawley sent a letter to USSS Acting Director Rowe to address "new and disturbing information" shared with him by a whistleblower about his involvement in the planning for the Butler event on July 13.

"A whistleblower has alleged to my office that the Secret Service Counter Surveillance Division (CSD), the division that performs threat assessment of event sites before the event occurs, did not perform its typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day," Hawley wrote. "This is significant because CSD’s duties include evaluating potential security threats outside the security perimeter and mitigating those threats during the event."

"The whistleblower claims that if personnel from CSD had been present at the rally, the gunman would have been handcuffed in the parking lot after being spotted with a rangefinder," he continued. "You acknowledged in your Senate testimony that the American Glass Research complex should have been included in the security perimeter for the Butler event. The whistleblower alleges that because CSD was not present in Butler, this manifest shortcoming was never properly flagged or mitigated."

Rowe's personal involvement in cuts, retaliation against whistleblowers

Sen. Hawley was not finished, though, as he went on to note that, according to the whistleblower, Acting Director Rowe, in his prior capacity as deputy director, personally ordered cuts to CSD and contributed to retaliatory acts against USSS personnel who raised concerns about security failures at previous events involving former President Trump.

"The whistleblower further alleges that you personally directed significant cuts to CSD, up to and including reducing the division’s manpower by twenty percent," the senator wrote. "You did not mention this in your Senate testimony when asked directly to explain manpower reductions."

"The whistleblower also alleges retaliation against those within the Secret Service who expressed concern about the security at President Trump’s events," he continued. One example is a golf tournament last year, during which "Secret Service personnel present expressed serious concern that the Secret Service’s use of local law enforcement was not adequate for security needs: local law enforcement were not properly trained for the event or otherwise prepared to execute the tasks given them."

"Further, Secret Service personnel expressed alarm that individuals were admitted to the event without vetting. The whistleblower alleges that those who raised such concerns were retaliated against," the senator added.

Hawley concluded his letter to Rowe by demanding that he provide within a week all records from his time as deputy director related to "policy and personnel changes" at CSD, his personal involvement in those changes, the number of USSS personnel who've raised concerns about security practices and been disciplined, and a division or unit-specific breakdown of all USSS personnel at the July 13 event in Butler.

GOP senators want to hear from more whistleblowers

Just days earlier, the Washington Examiner reported that Republican senators put out a call for more Secret Service whistleblowers to come forward about the July 13 assassination attempt following the Tuesday hearing, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who read aloud excerpts from a leaked internal email from a USSS countersniper who railed against the failures of the agency's leadership.

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

They were later echoed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said, "I want to underscore the call that has come from multiple senators for whistleblowers," and added, "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."