Pence Staffer Warned Secret Service Of Jan. 6 Security Threat, Report Says

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, warned Pence’s lead Secret Service agent a day before the Capitol riot that Pence could be in danger on January 6 because Trump would publicly attack him for refusing to intervene in the election certification, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Republican National Convention: Day Three

Former President Donald Trump stands with former Vice President Mike Pence. GETTY IMAGES

KEY FACTS

Short did not share with Pence’s Secret Service agent, Tim Giebels, what kind of security threat Pence might face when he met with Giebels in the West Wing, but the warning was the only time Short voiced a security concern during his time as Pence’s chief of staff, the Times reported, citing sources familiar with the conversations.

The warning came as Trump was pressuring Pence not to certify President Joe Biden’s victory on January 6, though the vice president ultimately chose to go against Trump’s wishes, later saying he was “proud” of his actions.

The news—uncovered during Times White House Correspondent Maggie Haberman’s reporting for an upcoming book—comes a week after the Times reported White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told colleagues during the Capitol riot Trump seemed to approve of “Hang Mike Pence!” chants that broke out among rioters.

The Secret Service and a representative for Pence did not respond to requests for comment from Forbes.

SURPRISING FACT

To help quell tensions between Trump and Pence, Short contacted Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, at the end of December to ask for help, but Kushner said he was busy with negotiations in the Middle East, according to the Times.

TANGENT

After rioters breached the Capitol, Giebels led Pence from the Senate chamber to secure his safety. He took Pence to an underground loading dock where the vice president refused to get in a car despite his aide’s insistence because Pence said such a move would allow the rioters to believe they won, the Times reported. Pence waited underground for three hours until the Capitol was secured so he could finally certify the election results, according to the Times.

KEY BACKGROUND

In the days leading up to the Electoral College vote count on January 6, Trump used social media and personal communication with the vice president to press him to reject Biden’s win. The day before the insurrection, Trump tweeted “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” At the rally on January 6, Trump said, “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country,” adding, “if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you.” Before the certification, Pence asked his chief counsel to write a memo detailing what his role and powers were on January 6, the Times reported. Pence’s aides ultimately determined the vice president did not have the authority to intervene. Pence issued a statement as the certification process started on January 6 explaining he did not believe he had the power to reject the votes. During the riots outside the Capitol, some Trump supporters created a makeshift gallows, as Trump tweeted Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country.”

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“There’s almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone,” Pence said in June 2021, defending his decision to certify the 2020 presidential election.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

More “unseen material” and witness testimony on the events of January 6. The House committee investigating the Capitol riot plans to share new evidence in the first of several hearings next week to unveil the findings of its investigation into the insurrection, the panel announced on Thursday.

FURTHER READING

Before Jan. 6, Aide Warned Secret Service of Security Risk to Pence (New York Times)

Trump Approved Of ‘Hang Mike Pence!’ Chants During Capitol Riot, Staffers Reportedly Learned (Forbes)

Jan. 6 Committee Will Release ‘Previously Unseen Material’ In Hearing Next Week (Forbes)

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Madeline Halpert

Madeline Halpert

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I’m a Michigan native and New York-based news desk reporter. In the past, I’ve covered a wide range of topics including trade policy and election administration. I graduated... Read More

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LEADERSHIP

A Commitment To Diversity Won’t Necessarily Move The Needle On Change

Grads of Life

Michelle SimsBrand Contributor

Grads of LifeBRANDVOICE| Paid Program

Mar 29, 2022,01:00pm EDT

For decades, diversity has been a key element of the corporate social responsibility agenda. Diversity in the workplace was touted as a valuable contributor to corporate prosperity, although progress toward true diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been slow and largely ineffective for far too many enterprises. In the past two years, corporate America passionately and vociferously doubled down on its collective commitment to diversity, but whether that passion translated to greater opportunity for marginalized segments of the population remains in doubt.

Grads of Life

Grads of LifeGRADS OF LIFE

Despite sustained talent shortages, amid strong job creation numbers, labor participation is stubbornly low. Millions of jobs remain unfilled today, two years into a pandemic, as the income divide widens and unemployment of the disenfranchised continues. What are we missing? What are organizations doing to address the demand for more diverse talent? How do we shape company cultures to cater to underrepresented talent and build a better, more equitable workforce?

Why Progress May Be Stalled

Educational trends, technology innovation, and traditional business practices can all hold employers back from making significant progress in building a more diverse workforce. Surprisingly, these factors represent the unexpected consequences of good intentions.

Education has long been considered the most effective means of moving up the economic ladder. There was a time when a high school diploma was a guaranteed passport to a good job and financial security. As our economy transitioned from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, however, college became the assumed prerequisite to success. Today, nearly two-thirds of high school graduates go on to college. Too many young people in the other 40%, who may have neither the means nor the inclination toward college, get left behind. Diminished funding for job training tracks means those students graduate with few prospects beyond low-wage employment.

Technology automation increases productivity. That’s a good thing. On the flip side, automation can eliminate jobs that do not require a four-year degree, such as mailroom, customer service, and clerical roles. Jobs like these, which served in the past as promising points of entry to good employment, all offered a career track with increased responsibilities. This translates to fewer opportunities to gain that all-important experience needed to make the move from starter jobs to career tracks.

Technology makes it easy for anyone to search for jobs online, but it can actually interfere with the ability of many applicants to get a job. The use of artificial intelligence in sourcing is designed to help employers quickly pinpoint likely candidates. It has a downside though. Any search for keywords relating to educational attainments and degrees omits many nontraditional and non-degreed applicants before recruiters even have the chance to consider them.

Business leaders represent the frontline in the push to substantially alter the makeup of the workforce through diversity, equity, and inclusion, yet many standard business policies and practices undermine efforts at change. For example, talent acquisition, when linked to a vendor management system (VMS), continues to focus on quantity over quality, driving specific service delivery expectations, such as time to fill a position. Candidate submission is typically required within a 24- to 72-hour window. Hiring practices like these do not foster a fair chance for employment of nontraditional candidates. With rigid delivery metrics, there may be little opportunity to spend time seeking out diverse candidates, which forces reactive hiring decisions and a default to first-available candidates.

Even when HR makes a concerted effort to identify diverse candidates, the focus is more likely on filling higher-level, higher-paying positions rather than looking at opportunities to shape the workforce at the point of entry. That translates to maintaining the status quo, which slows DEI progress.

Most concerning is the tendency of business leaders to view DEI as an HR priority rather than an enterprise priority and a strategic business imperative, with the funding and authority to enact meaningful change. If a DEI culture is not led at the executive level, with accountability for results, actions, and behaviors expected at every level, organizations will be hard-pressed to live up to their stated DEI commitments.

Systemic Change Requires More Than Quick Fixes to Established Practices

Read the annual report of any public company and you will likely see references to all the good work underway to deliver on DEI commitments, but progress is often made in small increments with exception-to-the-rule cases, based on adding a DEI component to established practices. Trying to rework or fix current practices and systems in mid-stream isn't the answer. Throw out long-held assumptions and rewrite the rules of engagement. To create systemic change, assume the standard operating procedures you’ve relied on for years are broken beyond repair. New approaches are needed. Foundational systems in the organization require bottom-up and top-down change to meet the moment and make an impact.

For example, simply adding a diversity hiring objective to standard talent sourcing practices may be an unrealistic strategy, given the current labor market in which talent supply and demand are wildly out of balance. Competition for a limited number of diverse candidates who fit your exact requirements may be a hill that can’t be climbed. Even without market forces conspiring to thwart your diversity sourcing efforts, you may experience square peg/round hole syndrome.

Instead of trying to diversify the current workforce with an influx of diverse hires, look to broaden your talent pool and build a more diverse workforce from the ground up. How do you do this?

● Prioritize skills over degrees, especially for entry-level roles. Focus on transferable skills, competencies, and real-life experiences. Seek out and hire for solid potential in talent to build your workforce. This is the first step in breaking down hiring barriers.

● Partner with a nontraditional source of talent for your organization, such as a nonprofit workforce development training provider.

● Determine the top 5 skills for each entry-level job and identify existing jobs in the general workforce that require those same 5 skills, then proactively seek out candidates with the transferable skills you’ve identified.

● Limit skills where possible on job postings; the more skills listed results in more talent omitted from consideration. Use a Job Posting Generator to help you out.

● Use gender-neutral language in all job descriptions, job postings, and your website. Input your job description and job posting into this free gender decoder tool.

● Standardize the entire interview process with a group of diverse individuals in the hiring process. Eliminate all hiring processes that rely on a single decision-maker, as this is a bias-prone practice and breeds a non-inclusive culture.

● Diversify your workforce through entry-level, work-based learning programs, allowing for both soft and hard skills development while in wage-based internships and apprenticeships.

Achieving meaningful change doesn’t necessarily mean meeting a hiring metric and onboarding diverse talent that fits your existing culture. It may require reshaping your culture to meet the demands of the future of work. Start that process with a blank page. Ask: “What does it mean to build a company and a workforce that offers a fair chance at opportunity and equity for all?” The answers will lead you to a more diverse workforce, one that will multiply enterprise capabilities. You will discover new ways to collaborate with others and open new doors to the needs and expectations of a more diverse customer base. Unlocking the potential value of a more diverse workforce requires rethinking tried-and-true programs. Reshaping processes and designing new practices to build an inclusive culture that provides for the knowledge, awareness, and education of a diverse population will take you further in meeting business objectives. And, it’s just the right thing for all of us to do.

What It Takes to Engender Meaningful Change

A quick internet search on DEI will produce firehose-worthy results that touch upon every conceivable aspect of corporate life. It may be difficult to know where to focus first. While highly visible changes that bring greater diversity to the executive suite are laudable, they can impact too few people to drive systemic change. To move beyond small fixes and incremental improvements, no matter how newsworthy, start at the point of entry to establish a new foundation for building a diverse, high-performance workforce.

● Don't wait to find a person to fit a pre-existing role; develop a role with room to grow.

● Create opportunities for marginalized individuals to enter an organization, focused on the possibilities of the future rather than the realities of the past. Let an eagerness to learn (i.e. potential) replace the traditional degree in hand.

● Don’t expect this new cadre of entry-level candidates to assimilate in the same ways that new workers have done for decades. Find out what kind of peer and coaching support and skills training they need to be successful.

● Rethink approaches to training. Consider longer-term solutions with apprenticeship and internship programs as a means to build talent internally from the ground up.

● Work with secondary schools to address the need for realistic job training to prepare students for positions offering greater potential for economic independence and career progression upon graduation.

Initiatives like these have wide-ranging potential to create a ripple effect that will push positive change throughout an organization, a community, and our workforce overall.

Changing the Future

According to McKinsey & Co., U.S. companies spend about $8 billion annually on DEI initiatives, with little to show for the effort. Achieving DEI goals requires more than good intentions. It doesn’t happen over a single day or week or even a year, but there are ways to jumpstart the change process. Don’t put the brakes on your efforts if they don’t immediately bear fruit. Systemic change is a long game. Don’t let competing priorities interfere with your efforts. Make DEI a strategic business priority and involve all levels of management and employees to make it happen. DEI is not just a program and isn’t just metrics; metrics are a result of values. DEI must be the overarching value for the enterprise.

Research has shown that more diverse organizations perform at higher levels than less diverse organizations. They are more innovative. Their teams make better decisions. They capture greater market share, generate more revenues, and deliver higher profitability. These results speak to the basic purpose of all business enterprises. Making a commitment to reshape the workforce to be more diverse, more equitable, and more inclusive addresses a far greater mission that can improve lives, strengthen our nation, and uplift the human spirit. Changing the future for millions of people is more than an undertaking that transcends business performance; it’s the right thing to do. It isn’t easy, but it is a mission that is long overdue and one that will pay huge dividends for underrepresented individuals and the enterprises they join, the families they care for, and the communities they call home.