The threats are horrifying. The vulnerability of those targeted is stunning. And the system that’s supposed to protect them is inadequate.
The US Marshals Service, which is tasked with keeping federal judges safe, can’t fully assess the security risks they face because their tracking system doesn’t allow officers to cross-reference behavioral information and spot suspicious activity that could connect cases, according to interviews with three former marshals who regularly worked with the database. The system was built to keep tabs on prisoners and fugitive investigations, not to track threats and inappropriate communications against the judiciary.
The Secret Service knows more about a potential school shooter than the Marshals Service knows about the type of person that stalks and threatens a judge, said John Muffler, who retired in 2015 as a chief inspector with the Marshals Service. “There’s way more meaning in the data being collected than just a number and I think that’s the big miss,” he said.