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US Secret Service chief Julia Pierson stands down

October 2, 2014

The Director of the US Secret Service has resigned after top level security breaches came to light during her time in charge. Julia Pierson said she felt that Congress had lost faith in her ability after the lapses.

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Julia Pierson Anhörung zur Sicherheitspanne im Weißen Haus 30.09.2014
Image: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Pierson's resignation took place after a string of revelations about lapses in the elite branch of the Secret Service protecting US President Barack Obama.

"Today, Julia Pierson, the Director of the United States Secret Service, offered her resignation, and I accepted it," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said he had appointed Joseph Clancy as interim acting director of the service, until a permanent replacement is named.

Pierson only took up the post heading the service 18 months ago, at a time the agency was already reeling from a series of embarrassing incidents.

"It's painful to leave as the agency is reeling from a significant security breach," Pierson told the Bloomberg news agency after handing in her resignation. "Congress has lost confidence in my ability to run the agency," she said. "The media has made it clear that this is what they expected."

Nordseite Weißes Haus
Pierson was grilled by Congress members in response to a recent incursion at the White HouseImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Ron Sachs

'New leadership required'

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that, given the "recent and accumulating" reports of security lapses, Obama had "concluded new leadership of that agency was required."

Pierson had appeared before a Congressgional committee on Tuesday, giving testimony about a September 19 lapse in which a knife-carrying homeless US army veteran allegedly jumped the White House fence. There were multiple calls for her resignation after the hearing, with a Congress investigation scheduled to take place into the breach.

In a separate incident last month, an armed security contractor with a criminal record was allowed into an elevator with Obama as the president visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Even before Pierson's appointment, the service was on the defensive over security alerts that included the firing of shots at the White House building in November 2011. Agents were also embroiled in a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia ahead of a visit to the country by Obama. Operatives in the Netherlands who were found to have been drunk last March were also censured.

rc/av (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)