Secret Service Director Abruptly Resigns After Security Breaches, Criticism
The chief of the U.S. Secret Service has resigned amid multiple recent security breaches that include a man entering the White House and an armed security guard with a criminal record being allowed in an elevator with President Obama.
A White House spokesperson announced Wednesday that Secret Service Director Julia Pierson had promptly resigned following multiple security flaps. Presidential spokesperson Josh Earnest said at a press briefing that Obama "concluded new leadership of that agency was required."
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Pierson's resignation in a statement, saying: "Today Julia Pierson, the director of the United States Secret Service, offered her resignation, and I accepted it."
Pierson also addressed her resignation in a brief interview with Bloomberg News that said "Congress has lost confidence in my ability to run the agency." The former director said that she then met with Johnson on Wednesday, and "after that discussion I felt this was the noble thing to do."
Pierson and the Secret Service received scathing criticism from Congress after multiple security breaches took place in September. The most public breach included an incident when a former military veteran scaled a fence at the White House and made it all the way into the east room of the building before being apprehended. The man had been carrying a small knife in his pocket.
Another incident reportedly took place earlier in September, when Secret Service failed to vet a security contractor at a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The man was carrying a gun and had past criminal offenses related to battery and assault, and was only given a background check after he rode on the elevator with the president.
