Secret Service Director Resigns
An inevitable outcome for the head of a once proud agency.
In the wake of a series of revelations about serious security breaches that culminated with yesterday’s news that an armed man with a criminal record had shared an elevator with the President during a visit to Atlanta, the Director of the Secret Service has resigned:
WASHINGTON — Julia Pierson, the director of the Secret Service, is resigning in the wake of several security breaches, according to administration officials.
The resignation came less than a day after lawmakers from both parties assailed Ms. Pierson’s leadership and said they feared for the lives of the president and others in the protection of the agency.
A 30-year veteran of the Secret Service, Ms. Pierson was supposed to have been the one to repair the agency’s reputation after scandals that raised questions about a culture that gave rise to incidents involving drinking and prostitution during overseas trips.
But her tenure has been rocked by more serious allegations that her agents and officers have not been performing their primary job competently. Under intense questioning on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Ms. Pierson admitted that those charged with securing the White House failed to follow numerous security protocols, allowing a man armedwith a knife to penetrate deep inside the mansion.
And late Tuesday, the agency acknowledged that just days before the White House breach, an armed man was allowed to ride in an elevator with the president during an event at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
After yesterday’s hearing before the Government Oversight Committee, in which Pierson was questioned sharply by members on both sides of the aisle who were clearly upset both with the security breaches themselves and with the agency’s transparency about the events that have been made public, it became clear that Pierson’s days in office were likely numbered. The final nail in the coffin may have come this morning when the ranking Democrat on the Committee, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who said that he was no longer comfortable with Pierson as the head of the Secret Service based on what has come out about the security breaches. If nothing else that was a sign that Democrats on Capitol Hill would end up being as vocal as Republicans about the need for change at an agency that has obviously lost its way.
As with the resignation of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs earlier this year, this change at the top, while necessary, is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what needs to be done to address the problems at the agency. Beyond this, there need to be further investigations, both public and classified, about what may have gone wrong at an agency that was once known as the best security force in the world. Among the issues that should be examined are the question of what role, if any, budgetary issues may have played in the current state of the Secret Service, which is an argument that some raised at yesterday’s hearing. In that regard, The Washington Post notes that Congress actually has ended up funding the agency at a higher level than was requested by the White House in the years since sequestration went into effect. At the same time, though, and for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, there has been an overall decline in the number of people employed by the Secret Service, although it’s not at all clear that these personnel cuts had any impact at all on the Presidential Protective Detail or the uniformed and plain clothes officers assigned to protect the White House. Additionally, it may also be time a good time to reexamine the decision to roll the Secret Service into the Department of Homeland Security when that agency was established. According to some accounts, the culture change that occurred when the agency was separated from its long-standing home at the Treasury Department may have had a bigger impact on the culture of the agency than anticipated. Whatever the answers may be, it’s worth noting that this seems to be one issue on which both sides on Capitol Hill are united, and that at least is something refreshing if only because you don’t see it very often.
Well, there you go: she did one thing right.
This is not – or should not be – a partisan issue. The safety of ANY president and his/her family, and his/her staff – especially in the White House – is of the utmost importance to all Americans. What recently transpired is unacceptable on all counts.
I’m pleased that Pierson resigned, I could see no other way.
@michael reynolds:
I’m guessing it wasn’t completely voluntary
I don’t Obama should appoint a new Director until Obama answers some more questions about Benghazi.
@Doug Mataconis:
Oh no…she wasn’t worried about the fvck-ups…she just wants to spend more time with her family.
WOW! Someone in the Obama administration actually taking responsibility for one of the many enormous cluster f^&*s that has occurred over the last 6 years.
Meanwhile, I’m sure hard drives are crashing at the Secret Service as we speak.
On a side note,
I’m sure budgetary issues–read sequestration, was behind all the Secret Service agents going to strip clubs and getting drunk under Pierson’s watch.
She had 18 months to fix things. Things got worse.
She’s being replaced (at least temporarily) is a guy who headed up the presidential protective detail and who retired in 2011. He needs to come in hard and swinging.
A good message would be to reassign (or fire) the Agent who was overpowered by the last intruder, and a promotion/commendation for the off-duty guy who did tackle that idiot. That would send a clear message about what is to be expected, and what will not be accepted.
@Jack: “all the Secret Service agents going to strip clubs and getting drunk under Pierson’s watch.”
I’m pretty sure that was before her watch. She was the mother figure promoted when the last group looked like a bunch of horny teenagers.
In her resignation statement she apparently thinks the media did her in. Me? To avoid charges of a War on Women I’m thinkin’ they need to interview Kathleen Sibelius and Lois Lerner. I hear they are looking for work and, except for some obscure IT related issues, both have sparkling records of government service.
@Guarneri:
They only start the War on Women crap when they are trailing in the polls and need to shake down some big donors. In some ways, I do respect the way the Dems play this issue and how effective it has been.
@Guarneri:
Actually, all they need to do is to talk to Sandra Fluke.
@Jack:
That wasn’t on her watch.
If you don’t understand the issues why…oh, never mind.
Sandra Fluke? I don’t think so. Word on the street is that when they saw the long line formed in front of her apartment they figured she was too busy.
@Guarneri:
Oh, as your comment indicates, Sandra can confidently assure Pierson and Sibelius that the Republican War on Women is real.
@DonVito:
Todd Akin agrees
@Doug Mataconis:
Well, she was able to correctly interpret the line, “So, you must miss home a lot.”
@al-Ameda:
Nice reply. This is exactly what I’m taking about. You take a Tea Party candidate who I agree said offensive remarks about women and the Whole GOP is now in a war against women?. Stop with the nonsense already as this is nothing but political rhetoric. I know its easy to label all of us as
misogynists, but i know you can do better than throwing Todd Akin out there.
@Guarneri:
Wow. Yuck. You’ve added ‘creep’ to your resume.
Nothing personal against Obama, but a president’s safety really isn’t important. There is a clearly set out system for succession and continuity of government. An assassination would have very little impact on the lives of 99.99% of the population.
@michael reynolds: He doesn’t even think that way. What’s got into him?
@DonVito:
I get your point Don, however …
Admittedly Akin is almost a parody of that stereotype.
However, the fact is that Akin is an evangelical, and his views are consonant with those of a very important segment of the Republican Party base, so it is not unreasonable to cite Akin and his view of what happens when a woman is raped, or his extremely narrow views on what rights women have with respect to reproduction and contraception.
Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on Sandra Fluke were more than just an attack on insurance coverage for women’s contraception, they were old stereotypical attacks on women who have a sex life (aka ‘sluts.’). And Limbaugh is not just another Republican – he is arguably, the most successful and influential conservative media figure in America today – and this has been the case for many years now.
There is a strong reason why women in the younger demographic are overwhelmingly Democratic, and why nearly half of older women are Democrats too. It has everything to do with, yes, a perceived hostility of the Republican male establishment toward women, and reproductive rights happens to be the flashpoint.
The ‘War on Women” is a not made up, it is not figment of imagination, Republicans have painted themselves into a corner on this subject and it is up to younger non-evangelical Republicans to find a way out of this problem because I don’t see evangelical Republicans changing their views on this any time soon.
@Peter:
Exactly, JFK’s assassination didn’t register at all with the American people.
@al-Ameda:
I’m not talking about cultural or emotional resonance, but about the effects on the day to day functioning of government and especially about the effects on people’s daily lives. An assassination isn’t likely to have many such effects.
@Peter: Sometimes the Vice-President sucks eggs.
The New York Times reported that the private security guard had three arrest but no conviction and the last arrest was in 1996. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/us/armed-man-boarded-elevator-with-obama-official-reports.html?_r=0
An arrest without a conviction cannot be used to deny someone a sensitive job or position. I suspect that the Washington Post writer got confused between arrest and felony conviction.
However, the president still got into an Elevator with someone who had a loaded weapon and was not clear to have it. Did the Secret Service forward teams not ask about armed security?
It also appears that the director of the Secret Service is an SES position and not a political position. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_United_States_Secret_Service
@Peter:
I tend to disagree because an assassination is a major shock to our body politic. A side effect may be a major loss of confidence in government, although to be fair, it’s hard to imagine it being lower than it is today. Sure, life goes on, but not as it did prior to the assassination.
@al-Ameda: It would certainly arrest people’s attention for a good long while.
Think the Superbowl for about three months.
@Guarneri: “Sandra Fluke? I don’t think so. Word on the street is that when they saw the long line formed in front of her apartment they figured she was too busy”
Fascinating that the very people who ridicule the idea of the Republican war on women are the same ones who post elaborate sexual fantasies about any woman wh dares express a political thought that doesn’t match their own.
@DonVito: “I know its easy to label all of us as
misogynists, but i know you can do better than throwing Todd Akin out there.”
Well, how about we throw “Guarneri,” your very own brother on this blog, out there.
@al-Ameda:
I’m not arguing that the GOP has had a problem with women voters in recent years and its a real hurdle they need to overcome if they want to ever win a presidential election. As for the war on women, its an issue that has been amplified every time a Democratic candidate needs a boost. I know there are clowns like Limbaugh and other extremists who may actually have contempt and work against women, but this is not reflective of the party as a whole. There will always be morons on both sides of the aisle who say offensive things and work actively against the private interests of certain people, but its wrong to paint millions of Americans as hateful towards women.
To borrow a quote from Bill Maher, This is a War on Women
“We hear a lot about the Republican ‘war on women.’ It’s not cool Rush Limbaugh called somebody a slut. Okay,” said Maher. “But Saudi women can’t vote, or drive, or hold a job or leave the house without a man. Overwhelming majorities in every Muslim country say a wife is always obliged to obey her husband. That all seems like a bigger issue than evangelical Christian bakeries refusing to make gay wedding cakes.”
@DonVito:
Both sides do it? I don’t think so. Thanks for playing.
@DonVito: I wish to hell all you millions would lift your voices and quit cowering behind these offensive men and women then.
I’d damned sure like some choice in my elections.
@Janis Gore:
I think he thinks he’s funny.
@Janis Gore:
I do acknowledge that a presidential assassination would have some adverse short-term economic effects, with business falling off at retailers, restaurants, entertainment venues, and so on. These would be temporary, however, and I don’t believe they justify shielding the president behind what’s equivalent to a military battalion. It’s like he’s some Third World megalomaniac despot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlqbd-virQU
@DonVito:
Because the problem isn’t the racism and misogyny and whatnot – that all good. The problem is convincing everyone its not in order to win elections.
There was a time I believed that myself.
@Janis Gore: He doesn’t even think
that way.FIFY
@DonVito: You remind me of my mom. When I submit to the pre-election grilling about what the liberals have done to destroy the country, I suggest that the conservative movement has its own problems by outlining the ridiculous things that even I can hear on Rush and Fox and others (you really are bucking against the tide, you know) she also responds
She goes on to note that she never even watches things with political content, so that if she knew what these people were saying, she would certainly never go along with things like that.
The last speech is right before she asks “did you realize [insert latest Fox News talking point here]?”
Her excuse is that she’s 87 and starting to have memory issues. What’s yours?
What are you guys talking about? I meant lining up to hear her valuable insights on health care issues.
You guys owe her an apology for thinking that way.
@DonVito: So you’re saying we shouldn’t care about serious problems in our country as long as we can find one where things are worse? What a fine plan!
Time to go study. I’ve just learned from the intellectually superior species – liberals – that global warming actually spawned ISIS.
Plastic bags, big cars. Next thing you know they are slicing peoples heads off. Who knew?
There is a reason why the Kennedy assassination is such a popular plot among Alternativa Hustory writers.
@DonVito:
And this somehow justifies the animosity of on some of the right to autonomous women how? Is the American left somehow keeping those Saudi women down? I believe that America can and should be a beacon to the rest of the world on equality. That cannot happen when a large segment with political power uses said power to keep equality from happening. What is wrong about your line of reasoning even in just between the two of you is trying to link one senior female government member resigning to other females who have resigned. In the Holder resignation post there were no comparisons of him to other men in the government that have resigned. But ladies in the government must all be the same, and while we’re at it let’s somehow bring in a female who testified in front of congress because since they all have ovaries they’re all the same. It is how dense the right is about things like this that upsets people, mainly young people. If you see no problem bringing Fluke or Lerner or Sibelius in a discussion that doesn’t hinge upon them at all you just don’t get it. Besides a lack of a Y chromosome none of them have anything to tie them to Pierson. And if you want to bring up women resigning under this POTUS none of them are germane to the discussion of security failures of the secret service.
@Peter: Yea, Kennedy was hardly a blip in our country’s collective experience, doh.
@al-Ameda: …hadn’t gotten to your response to Peter yet.
I figure she was politely asked to resign rather than officially getting canned.
The agency clearly has some issues and it may be best dealt with if they replace some people at the top.
Allowing somebody on an elevator with the president while armed and being unaware that this person was armed is not a minor mistake.
@rodney dill: MLK hardly counted either, did he, Mr. Dill?
@Dave D:
I think he’s right. Not all Republucans hate women. Or even blacks, or gay people. It’s only the people they elect to office and the people they choose to watch on tv and the people who run the websites they read.
End snark.
Actions speak louder than words. If Republicans don’t want to be seen as misogynists and xenophobes then they simply need to stop acting like misogynists and xenophobes.
@Janis Gore: I was being sarcastic, and MLK would’ve worked equally well for that point. (other than he wasn’t an assassinated President)
@rodney dill: I was meeting your tone, sir.
Them was some tumultuous years, yessirree.
(These online bar conversations…so easy to be misunderstood.)
@Peter: People can and do make a case that Vietnam would have turned out differently had Kennedy served out his term. And as long as we’re into alternate history hypotheticals, contemplate President Palin.
Speaking of Palin and the like, Charlie Pierce is highly critical of Democrats
@Jenos Idanian #13: Via Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice , Bryce Covert of TNR points out that this has a name
Laurie adds
@DonVito:
Bill’s right, however, 2 things can be equally true: (1) the treatment of many women in many of the countries of the Middle East is terrible, and (2) Republicans have a political problem with women of their (the GOP’s) own making. I personally wouldn’t conflate the two, however I’m not surprised the Republicans would want to be let off the hook on this.
@Just Me:
Government officials at that level prepare a resignation letter when they start the job. All their boss (the president has to do is pull it out and date it). It is a reminder to the highest level of appointees that they can be canned in a second with little procedural effort.
@al-Ameda: There’s also an issue of immediacy and responsibility. As a voter in a democracy I have some responsibility for preventing Republicans from making life hard for young women in the United States. I am not responsible for what happens in Saudi Arabia.
Another example of the Glass Cliff: Once shit’s totally out of control, appoint a woman and make her take the fall.
@gVOR08: Look, I mean seriously, now…. weve got that magnificant moron Joe Biden as a gunshot away from the presidency. Weve got another mental midget, John Kerry and before him Hillary Clinton. Holder as AG. given this list of epic failures, (which just barely scratches the surface of their collective imcompetance…) anyone *really* expect his appointment to head the SS to perform any better?
@Eric Florack:
You really should take a long look in the mirror before you comment on the mental capacities of any of the people you mentioned, or for that matter before you comment on anyone else’s partisanship.
@Grewgills: I have done so.
My comment stands.
@Eric Florack:
To single out one, Kerry assembled a diverse coalition of our allies including regional powers to actively combat IS in a very short period of time. That is not something that a ‘mental midget’ accomplishes. What have you accomplished that approaches even 1/10th of that level of difficulty?