In light of the recent lapses by the Secret Service, director Julia Pierson has resigned. Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson said that transformation and reformation will be enforced within the agency, adding that an independent board will be convened to look into matters.
September was a difficult month for the Secret Service. It had just come under fire for a breach that allowed a knife-wielding man to not only scale the fences of the White House but to make it all the way inside before being apprehended in the East Room when it was revealed that another security lapse happened.
This time, the Secret Service let a private security contractor with a gun and a criminal record ride in an elevator with the president in Atlanta last Sept. 16. This was definitely against protocol but Pierson was berated more not for letting the incident happen but for not disclosing it to the president.
Before tendering her resignation, Pierson was called before Congress to give her a chance to explain the agency's grave shortcomings. But as she sat before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, she was not able to reassure the panel that the Secret Service is still up to the task of protecting the president and his family as well as other top officials in the country.
But to Pierson's defense, 18 months on the job is not enough time to clean out the ills of the agency, which mostly began when the Secret Service was placed under the Department of Homeland Security.
Under the DHS, the Secret Service was also put in charge of going after cybercriminals on top of performing security detail for the presidential family. Budget cuts may have also taken their toll on the agency's performance, factoring into the recent series of security breaches.
With Pierson gone, Joe Clancy, former head of President Obama's security team, was chosen as a replacement, a decision that First Lady Michelle Obama also supports.
The Secret Service started offering presidents protection after former president William McKinley was assassinated. While more than half a century has passed since a successful assassination, security lapses have always plagued the agency over the years.
Citizens have every right to be concerned about the safety of their president but only one man's opinion is the best gauge of how well the Secret Service is performing. Does President Obama still feel safe?
"Absolutely," said Eric Schultz, White House spokesman.
