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Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 17:39:17 2014 Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire(Reuters) - U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned under fire on Wednesday after a series of security lapses came to light that showed gaping holes in the protective cocoon around President Barack Obama. Pierson, who had been in her position since March 2013, faced growing calls from lawmakers to step down in the fallout from a Sept. 19 incident in which an Iraq war veteran clambered over the White House fence, sprinted across the lawn and got deep inside the mansion before he was stopped. Pierson told a congressional committee on Tuesday she took "full responsibility" for security lapses. She tendered her resignation to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who accepted it. Her resignation came the day after it was disclosed that in a violation of protocol, an armed private security contractor rode on an elevator with Obama in Atlanta earlier this month and took pictures and video of the president on his phone. The lapses had raised concerns across Washington that Obama is as not as protected as he should be in an age of global tumult. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama believed Pierson's resignation was in the best interest of the agency, and that "recent and accumulating" reports of security lapses led the president to conclude new leadership was needed at the Secret Service. Calls for Pierson to step down had grown on Capitol Hill prior to her resignation. The 30-year Secret Service veteran had failed to inspire confidence among lawmakers from both parties during a three-and-a-half-hour grilling on Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In response to calls from lawmakers for an independent probe into the Sept. 19 fence-jumping incident, the Homeland Security Department will establish a panel of independent experts to investigate what happened. Earnest said the group will recommend changes to how the Secret Service operates and suggest who might become the next permanent Secret Service director. A veteran of the agency's presidential protection division, Joseph Clancy, was named acting director in the meantime. Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, who chairs a national security oversight subcommittee, questioned Pierson during the hearing on the number of times she had briefed Obama on incidents this year where his safety had been compromised. She replied that there was only one such briefing – after the fence jumper incident. She made no mention of the Atlanta incident. The omission prompted Chaffetz to call for her ouster, and he was later followed by others, including Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee. "Director Pierson’s resignation is a matter of national security and I am pleased she is stepping down. The position should be filled immediately by new leadership from outside the Secret Service for a fresh start," Chaffetz said in a statement. (Additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by John Whitesides) |
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by bingbong on Wed Oct 1 17:52:41 2014, in response to Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 17:39:17 2014. They haven't been the same since DHS took them over from Treasury. Hmmmm..... |
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 17:56:49 2014, in response to Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by bingbong on Wed Oct 1 17:52:41 2014. Even worse situation in some of the other subagencies too. :( |
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by Gamera on Wed Oct 1 18:41:17 2014, in response to Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 17:39:17 2014. We heard she has applied for a job here
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 19:01:58 2014, in response to Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by Gamera on Wed Oct 1 18:41:17 2014. Dunno if you ever had to sit through that turd, but that was definitely in the running for worst movie ever. :)Sadly, USSS was once part of the Treasury Department, and they were serious stuff. Now they're just another cog in DHS which seemingly doesn't seem to care much about them. USSS is also the agency that's supposed to deal with computer crime and credit card fraud, but they've been chronically underfunded in that regard as well ever since the reorganization under the US Terrorism and Patriotism Department. Had several friends who worked there years ago, they've all hit the silk since. Rearranging the decks chairs here really isn't going to make any difference - the head of the department was meaningless anyway. :( |
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by Dave on Wed Oct 1 19:10:58 2014, in response to Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by bingbong on Wed Oct 1 17:52:41 2014. We know |
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Oct 1 19:54:23 2014, in response to Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 17:39:17 2014.  |
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Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Wed Oct 1 20:02:25 2014, in response to Re: Secret Service director Pierson resigns under fire, posted by Olog-hai on Wed Oct 1 19:54:23 2014. US Marshalls are STILL independent of the Department of Terrorism and Patriotism Enforcement. Still with DOJ, still taking care of business. |
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