I saw Pierson's appearance before the committee, and I have to say it was the absolute worst performance by a high ranking Administration official before a congressional committee I've seen in many years. (And that's saying something, because I also saw Eric Shinseki's deer-in-the-headlights hearing about the VA scandals, and Chuck Hagel's painful to watch confirmation hearing...this was worse than those...)Darrell Issa, Elijah Cummings ask for broader Secret Service probe
The top Democrat and Republican on the committee leading investigations into the Secret Service is calling on the secretary of Homeland Security to expand the scope of his probe into the agency’s security lapses.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, a Republican and Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, will send a letter on Friday to Secretary Jeh Johnson, asking that a deeper review include a “full range of management, personnel, training and cultural issues that contribute to the root causes” that have caused the agency a series of embarrassing security mistakes.
“[W]e believe that the panel must conduct a broad assessment of the agency — well beyond the September 19 incident,” Issa and Cummings wrote. “Identifying cultural problems within the Secret Service is no small task.”
The Secret Service has been under scrutiny since Sept. 19, when an armed man scaled the White House fence, entered through unlocked doors and forced his way to the Green Room of the White House. The accused, Omar Gonzalez, has been indicted on three charges in federal court.
That incident set off a series of embarrassing lapses revealed by The Washington Post about a gun-carrying contractor who was allowed into an elevator with President Barack Obama — and how it took days for the Secret Service to discover that the White House was shot at in 2011. The series of scandals prompted Julia Pierson to resign as director of the Secret Service this week.
Johnson, who announced Pierson’s resignation, said he would ask a panel to hold an independent investigation into the Gonzalez incident and issue a report by Dec. 15. In his statement, Johnson said he would ask the panel to “advise me about whether it believes, given the series of recent events, there should be a review of broader issues concerning the Secret Service.”
Issa and Cummings also are asking Johnson to publish an unclassified version of the report.
“The sooner this process begins, the quicker the agency can implement recommended reforms and restore its reputation,” Issa and Cummings said. “The frequency and gravity of recent security breaches highlight significant flaws within the Secret Service’s culture, which the independent investigation must examine in depth.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/s ... z3FH63nH1s
About half way through, I thought to myself, "this woman absolutely hasn't got a clue; she's nothing but a careerist butt coverer. She's coming across so badly there's no way she'll be able to keep her job." Apparently she was even worse in the closed session. And then as if to underscore just how completely clueless she is, when she quit she blamed the Congress and the media...
For decades, the Secret Service was The Jewel In The Crown of Federal law enforcement and intelligence services. And those serving in the Presidential Protection Detail were the elite of the elite....
But somewhere along the line in recent years, something has obviously gone seriously wrong...They're starting to look like a bunch of Barney Fifes...
One theory is that when the agency was shifted from Treasury to the much larger bureaucracy of Homeland Security the agency somehow lost its special status, and quality has declined. I don't know if that's the explanation or not but whatefer the problems are they have to be corrected toot sweet, because what they are charged with, (the protection of The President Of The United States) is far too serious and important to tolerate these kinds of fuck ups.
One thing I believe is needed is for someone outside of the agency to come in and drain the swamp. The best candidate would be someone who is respected in law enforcement management, but who has no connection to the agency.
I don't know if former FBI Director Robert Mueller could be coaxed out of retirement to take this on, but I think he'd be an excellent candidate.
As this article notes:
http://time.com/3456360/julia-pierson-f ... t-service/If a corporation is performing poorly, the CEO is replaced with an outsider who can shake up the company and change the culture.
The same solution applies to the Secret Service. As FBI director, Robert S. Mueller III removed anyone who did not tell him an honest story. [precisely the management approach needed]The FBI performed magnificently under his management, protecting us since 9/11 from foreign terrorist attacks.
And this really surprised me:(from the same article)
It is absolutely ridiculous that the head of the agency tasked with preventing our democratic process from being undone by an act of violence is considered less significant than The Librarian Of Congress or a US Marshal....The list of appointments that do require Senate confirmation is long and the positions often obscure. Not only the head of the U.S. Marshals Service requires Senate confirmation but also 94 marshals positions, one in each judicial district. Besides the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, the director of the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime requires confirmation. So does the librarian of Congress and the deputy director for demand reduction of the so-called drug czar. The Secret Service director is missing from this list.
This should be changed immediately; making the Director of The Secret Service subject to a Senate Confirmation vetting process should be a no brainer.
