 The Secret Service is responsible for protecting the former president, who, of course, is also a presidential candidate this year. Former Secret Service Director William Ralph Basham Jr. told NPR that the fact that these shots were fired at all was a failure on the Secret Service's part. He says this never should have happened, and the agency is going to have to dig deep and take a close look at what went wrong. Now, the Secret Service falls under the Department of Homeland Security.