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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Julia Pierson Resigns as Head of Secret Service


Julia Pierson

"Gee, I wish I were like Eric Holder."


Last night, I watched parts of Julia Pierson's testimony before Congress in the wake of several security lapses concerning the protection of President Obama and the White House. To be honest, I was not impressed. She was robotic and was not giving satisfactory answers. Noteworthy was the fact that she was taking fire not just from the Republicans but from the Democrats as well. This was a bi-partisan controversy involving the security of the President, and the string of lapses and delayed reporting of those lapses to the President was enough to trouble anyone. Even Elijah Cummings (D-MD) was implying that Pierson should resign. He stated that he had trouble sleeping last night he was so worried over the issue. (Of course, Cummings has no such trouble sleeping over Eric Holder, the leadership at DHS, or the leadership at IRS. Those are partisan issues and Cummings is determined to protect the President, no pun intended.)

Today, 24 hours after the White House issued a statement of support for Pierson, she "offered" her resignation, which was accepted by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and President Obama with the requisite statements saluting her 30-year-record with the Secret Service, her dedication, etc.-blah blah blah, woof woof woof, quack quack quack.

Today White House press spokesman Josh Earnest acknowledged (It had to be drawn out of him) in an indirect way that Johnson and Obama saw the need to change directors. Then, when asked what had changed in the 24 hours since the White House and DHS had expressed support for Pierson, Earnest said that first of all, what had happened is that Pierson had offered her resignation.

Right. Like you "offer" your wallet to the mugger with a gun.

What happened was that Democratic members of Congress were no doubt letting the White House know that they had no confidence in Pierson. Unfortunately for Pierson, she is no Eric Holder. Pierson was no doubt told to "offer" her resignation. Had she refused, she would have been fired, no way to end a 30-year career.

While I have nothing against Pierson, it must be said that the critics are probably on to something when they criticize the "culture" in the Secret Service in recent years. I say in recent years because when I was a DEA agent, I had occasion to work with the agency from time to time. When I was stationed in Milan in the 1980s, we also had a Secret Service office in the US Consulate. (The Secret Service, aside from protecting the President and other high-ranking officials, also investigates counterfeiting.) The point is that I had high regard for this agency. Their professionalism was impressive. I saw no problem with their "culture" so to speak. It may well be that the agency's culture has deteriorated in recent years given the scandals regarding overseas conduct while off-duty, coupled with the recent security lapses. In addition to the Secret Service, it seems pretty clear that the culture and morale of the ATF has gone downhill in recent years. This does point to a failure at the leadership level. Bad leadership can destroy an agency's culture and morale. As to Pierson, I cannot say that her leadership has been good, bad or indifferent. I just don't have the information about her.

The Secret Service now needs a strong director who can restore the luster to what has for so long been one of our premier federal law enforcement agencies. The culture should consist of professionalism, dedication, lack of politics, fairness, and high morale. During my DEA career I saw several administrators (as they are called in DEA) come and go. Without mentioning any names, morale tended to go up or down depending on who was the administrator and their top underlings. Today, we see the same problem with ATF, DHS and a few other agencies. Everywhere I go, my contacts tell me that agents can't wait to retire. That includes the Secret Service.

Unlike Elijah Cummings, I will still sleep like a dead man tonight as I generally do. I will say a prayer for the Secret Service, however.



3 comments:

Siarlys Jenkins said...

Of course, Cummings has no such trouble sleeping over Eric Holder, the leadership at DHS, or the leadership at IRS.

Well, no, those are political footballs, Pierson's agency showed genuine incompetence.

Gary Fouse said...

I heard on Rush Limbaugh today that Pierson was trying to reduce security in order to make the WH and Obama appear more open or some such word. She is quoted as saying it should be like Disneyland (where she supposedly once worked.)

Of course I know Siarlys doesn't consider Rush a good source of info, but let's see what comes out. It appears this is not the Secret Service I knew.

BTW: When I was the agent-in charge in Milan, the SS office there gave me a certificate of appreciation. Another SS agent also got me an autographed (by auto-pen) picture of Pres. Reagan. It says, To Gary Fouse with Best wishes, Ronald Reagan. Of course, he never signed it himself nor did he ever hear of me. But the picture is smiling at me from the wall as I write.

Siarlys Jenkins said...

As you sometimes say, a stopped clock is right twice a day. I would think it is stepping well outside of her jurisdiction for Pierson to decide how open or controlled the White House should be.