Live updates: Trump rally shooting investigation continues after assassination attempt at campaign rally

Drones are used today by everything from small rural police departments with a handful of members to major federal law enforcement agencies. But they weren’t in the sky over the former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania when a gunman shot him and three other attendees from a nearby rooftop.

Some officials want to know why.

“What happened here? I think pretty clearly there was a security lapse, at least. And we need to find out, for example, why were drones not used in the area?” House Speaker Mike Johnson asked on CNN on Sunday evening. “I have not gotten a satisfactory answer on that yet. That seems pretty obvious that you would do that so you could see people on rooftops.”

Experts in the field say that drones are becoming a common tool by law enforcement, even when not doing threat assessment. They can be used for things as simple as traffic control at large scale events, or to help emergency personnel reach people who are having standard medical problems.

Aerial surveillance is much easier with the advances in drones, said Matt Sloane, CEO of a drone firm Skyfire. His company has trained law enforcement agencies from large to small, including the Secret Service, in the use of drones, as well as provided the service itself.

Sloane said his firm has provided drone surveillance for private security firms working at rallies of presidential candidates who are not yet covered by the Secret Service, as well as at major events, such as Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta in February 2019. His service costs about $5,000 per drone per event.

“I’m not accusing Secret Service or any agency of doing something wrong,” he said about the lack of drones at the rally Saturday. “This is newer technology, and the Secret Service has been doing things a certain way successfully for a long time. But there are things out there that can help and are worth considering.”

The Secret Service has thus far declined to answer questions about the lack of drone surveillance and its other decisions on the protection provided at Saturday’s rally.