US SECRET Service Director Julia Pierson abruptly resigned on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 1 in the wake of multiple security breach scandals involving the White House.
Pierson “offered her resignation, and I accepted it,” said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in a statement. “I salute her 30 years of distinguished service to the Secret Service and the Nation.”
As a special agent, Pierson had been involved with the US Secret Service since 1984, and broke ground in 2013 when she was appointed by President Obama as new head of the agency. She became the Secret Service’s first female director.
Lawmakers and government officials were urging Pierson to step down, after multiple criticisms of “bumbling” in her agency and making careless and potentially endangering mistakes.
Two risky incidents occurred in September, when a man climbed over the White House fence and somehow made it deep inside before being apprehended. The first family was not present when the intruder entered. In another endangering incident, President Obama had shared an elevator with an unauthorized, armed guard in Atlanta.
As the highest-ranking woman in the agency, Pierson has faced Congressional criticism amidst the series of security lapses, crumbling trust in her leadership.
“Over the last several days, we’ve seen recent and accumulating reports raising questions about the performance [of the Secret Service],” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. “The president concluded that new leadership of that agency was required.”
Upon resignation, President Obama had reportedly telephoned Pierson to thank her for her years of service.
Homeland Security Secretary Johnson also announced the appointment of Joseph Clancy, the former head of the agency’s Presidential Protective Division, as the temporary director of the US Secret Service.
Earnest praised Clancy as “the right choice,” emphasizing that he has “full confidence of the president and the first lady.”
Wanting to restore trust in its protective presidential service, the US government will also launch an independent expert panel committee and investigation into the Secret Service’s operations, especially concerning the Sept. 19 incident with the White House break-in.
“The panelists will be named shortly. By Dec. 15, 2014, this panel will submit to me its own assessment and recommendations concerning security of the White House compound,” Johnson said. “I will also invite the panel to submit to me recommendations for potential new directors of the Secret Service, to include recommendations of individuals who come from outside the Secret Service.”
“Problems at the Secret Service pre-date Ms. Pierson’s tenure as director, and her resignation certainly does not resolve them,” said the panel’s chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif).
Pierson admitted in a recent press interview after her resignation was announced, “Congress has lost confidence in my ability to run the agency.”
After officially meeting with Homeland Security, she felt “that [resigning] was the noble thing to do.”
(With reports from Associated Press and Yahoo News)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(Las Vegas October 2-8, 2014 Sec. A pg.1)
