JUST IN: Trump Announces Pick For Director Of Secret Service
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped the man credited with saving his life to lead the U.S. Secret Service, a well-deserved elevation for the leader of his security detail who has guided him through two assassination attempts.
The embattled presidential protection arm of the federal government has been in a state of disarray since the July 13th shooting against Trump which nearly took his life. Subsequent local, state, and federal investigations uncovered a toxic workplace fueled by low morale, poor communication, and agents who weren’t bringing their best on a daily basis.
After Trump was struck in the ear that day, he rose from beneath a pyre of Secret Service agents to pump his blood-stained fist in the air, a gesture which quickly became a rallying cry for his followers. Next to his side at that moment was Sean Curran, the leader of Trump’s presidential detail for the past four years.
Multiple sources familiar with the president-elect’s decision-making told CNN that there is internal concern Curran, who manages about 85 personnel, lacks the managerial experience to oversee a department that does much more than protect current and former presidents and their families. The Secret Service is also tasked with investigating a myriad of financial crimes, including the dissemination of counterfeit U.S. currency plus bank and credit card fraud.
Other sources point out that Curran has never been a part of the Senior Executive Service, which comprises the highest ranks in the service.
Rather than detractions, those may be selling points to Trump, who nearly lost his life due to what critics say was a culture of mismanagement that rushed to diversify the Secret Services’ ranks with unqualified agents. Curran is credited with pushing for additional resources for Trump since he left the White House, with some of those requests being rebuffed by Acting Director Robert Rowe.
Curran was among the first to recognize that President-elect Trump’s vulnerability to an assassination attempt was much higher than any other “former” the agency had ever guarded. He was also present during an August attempt on Trump’s life when a deranged gunman nearly fired a high-caliber rifle at him while he golfed at his property in Florida.
Following the July shooting, a blue-ribbon panel commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security recommended that the Secret Service hire an outsider to reform the department.
In its report, the panel wrote that it found “evidence that Secret Service personnel, including those associated with the protection of former President Trump, viewed themselves as operating under an informal mantra of, effectively, ‘do more with less,’ which is inconsistent with achieving excellence or ‘no fail’ in the Service’s protective mission.”
Further, the panel found “an insufficiently experienced-based approach by the former president’s detail regarding its selection of agents to perform certain security critical tasks.”
Rowe, who took over following the resignation of former director Kimberly Cheatle, has instituted an array of reforms including the establishment of an Aviation and Aerospace Division to manage the agency’s drone and counter-drone strategies, and Operational Communications and Integration Division to direct radio and other communications.
It’s unclear if Curran will seek to maintain those changes, though after having Trump’s back for the past four years, it’s not hard to see why the Republican is putting his faith in a longtime, righthand man.