(Washington, D.C.) – Thirty years after the assassination attempt on President Ronald
Reagan, the United States Secret Service is releasing an audio recording as well as
internal agency interviews examining the event.
The audio recording of command post radio communications between Secret Service
agents assigned to President Reagan that day has not previously been released. A
transcript of the audiotape is also available.
Summaries of interviews central to the internal review of the agency’s preparation,
deployment and reaction to the attempted assassination on March 30, 1981, have also
been released. The review, conducted March 31 to May 1, 1981, did not look into any
criminal aspects of the incident.
The interview reports and other documents were recently released under a Freedom of
Information Act request and are now available in the FOIA Reading Room on the Secret
Service website. In both the FOIA documents and the transcript, names of personnel
involved in the incident and investigation are provided as allowed by federal regulation.
This includes supervisory employees and others publicly named in previous accounts,
testimony or publications. Other names have been redacted per FOIA guidelines.
The audio tape is a copy of the original recording of radio traffic on the Secret Service’s
internal communications network. It has not been digitally altered or enhanced. The
transcript was prepared by the U.S. Secret Service. Due to the nature of radio
communications and the increased traffic following the incident, portions of the audio are
unable to be accurately transcribed. These sections are noted.