President Barack Obama on Wednesday chose the acting director of the Secret Service to fill the job permanently, brushing aside an independent panel’s conclusion that the job should go to an outsider in the wake of security breaches that prompted the previous director to resign.
Joseph Clancy is a 27-year veteran of the agency and was previously the head of the service’s presidential protective division. He was hurriedly appointed on an interim basis four months ago after then-Director Julia Pierson was forced out.
A panel responsible for reviewing the Secret Service and making recommendations for improvements had concluded earlier this year that the agency was too “insular” and “starving for leadership,” and recommended the hiring of an outsider as the next director.
“The next director will have to make difficult choices, identifying clear priorities for the organization and holding management accountable for any failure to achieve those priorities,” the group wrote after interviewing 50 Secret Service employees. “Only a director from outside the (Secret) Service, removed from organizational traditions and personal relationships, will be able to do the honest top-to-bottom reassessment this will require.”
On Sept. 19, a White House fence-jumper carrying a knife was able to run deep into the executive mansion, prompting the agency to put a second layer of fencing around the presidential complex. Obama initially told aides he was satisfied with the changes. But his opinion shifted after he learned that that a security contractor the Secret Service didn’t know was armed had been allowed to board an elevator with him during a trip to Atlanta.
Four of the agency’s highest-ranking officials were reassigned recently in response to the series of embarrassing problems.
The panel that recommended an outside hire included former Obama administration Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli; former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, who served during President George W. Bush’s term; Danielle Gray, a former assistant to Obama; and Joe Hagin, deputy chief of staff for operations during the Bush administration.
In a statement released by the White House, Perrelli called Clancy “a dedicated public servant who has made important changes since he began the job and has started the process of reforming the (Secret) Service.”
The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said he was disappointed that Obama decided not to follow the panel’s recommendations.
“The panel made it crystal clear that only a director from outside the agency would meet the needs of the agency today — someone with a fresh perspective, free from allegiances and without ties to what has consistently been described as a ‘good old boys network,’ ” Chaffetz said.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the committee, welcomed Clancy’s appointment.
“Joe Clancy has taken strong action over the past several months to begin righting the ship at the Secret Service, he has been extremely responsive to Congress, and his decisive leadership has already resulted in major changes,” Cummings said.
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