Secret Service Director Julia Pierson Is Resigning

[Rhiannon12866]

Source: ABC News

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, who has been skewered by critics over the Sept. 19 White House security breach, is resigning, sources told ABC News.

Pierson’s resignation comes in the wake of an incident in which Omar Gonzalez, a knife-wielding Iraq War vet, allegedly managed to slip over the fence, past several layers of security, and into the White House’s East Room, where he was subdued by an off-duty agent.

Lawmakers at a congressional hearing Tuesday demanded to know how such a breach of one of the most secure buildings in the world could have taken place.

"It will never happen again,” Pierson assured lawmakers at the hearing.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/secret-service-director-julia-pierson-resigning/story?id=25889952

---

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 30, 2014, as she testifies before the House Oversight Committee as it examines details surrounding a security breach at the White House. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

[leftynyc]

1. Good first step

Now how about all the clowns that were on duty that day and obviously screwed up so royally.

[FarPoint]

4. Exactly, they failed miserably at their job...

The most honorable job position to hold, protecting our President. Sad day for everyone.

[narnian60]

6. Yes, indeed.

[JimDandy]

15. Yup. No excuses. n/t

[darkangel218]

2. As she should.

What a poor job performance. Yikes..

[tularetom]

3. Good, a fish rots from the head and all that

Now what's needed is a night of the long knives, a general purge of all the lazy incompetent and corrupt hacks that seem to have taken over this formerly honorable government agency. And I think it's very important that President Obama be seen in a prominent role in the housecleaning so everyone can see that there are limits to his Mr Nice Guy persona and that he actually does stand for something.

[Bandit]

8. I wonder where and how that saying ever came to be

It certainly is not true.

[Feral Child]

20. You're correct, it's incorrect.

Fish begin to rot in the bowels first, just like people.

[Paladin]

5. Glad to hear it. (nt)

[Baitball Blogger]

7. I wish this kind of response was more common.

[erpowers]

9. She Should Not Have Resigned

I do not think she should have resigned. Some of the stories that came out in the last few weeks did not happen on her watch. The Columbia story and the shooting story happens during the time of the previous director. Yes, two major incidents happened during her tenure, but with the White House Intruder incident the President had just left and the Secret Service was short on personnel. In the second incident I would give more blame to the contractors at the CDC. I guess the Secret Service could have done a background check on everyone at the CDC, but the contractors at the CDC could have done the background check and refused to hire the person. They could have at least informed the Secret Service that one of the security people had a criminal background.

[moondust]

12. Agree.

Should have been at least a preliminary investigation to determine where the actual problems lie rather than stirring up a witch hunt/lynch mob.

Punishing the wrong people is unjust and will not fix the problem.

[RobinA]

33. Yes ^^^

I will celebrate this when someone can show that she was the problem (not saying she wasn't, just saying Show me the justification) and not a scapegoat to avoid actually fixing the real problem. I've seen too much blame game both in my own little world and in watching politics to buy this at face value. Shinseki, anyone?

[Historic NY]

13. Sorry its was obvious she wasn't a leader

she was there from March 2013 to present when the more egregious incidents have occurred...

Thing are getting worse not better. She was there to replace Sullivan who's watch has been tainted with Columbia and his private surveillance caper.

[erpowers]

16. A Little More Than A Year

She had a little more than a year to correct an organization that has most likely been broken for decades. Yes, she may have been there when the worse things happened, but there were reasons behind those incidents. Maybe the lack of Secret Service personnel was the real reason the White House intruder was able to get so far. I saw a report that claimed someone jumps the White House fence about once a month. Every other time the person who jumped was stopped almost immediately. It seems the real problem in that incident was that there was a lack a Secret Service personnel at the White House due to the fact that the first family was on its way to Camp David. It is most likely that if the first family had been at the White House the fence jumper would have been stopped sooner. With the elevator incident, maybe the real, or better solution is to prevent anyone, other than Secret Service agents from riding in elevators with the President.

[tularetom]

18. No, the president should have fired her before she had a chance to resign

He needs to let the dead wood in this agency know that he won't tolerate the sloppy if not disrespectful work that has become the norm for them.

[TeamPooka]

22. Yes she should. Does a member of the First Family have to die first before it's a fail? Please. nt

[24601]

31. I disagree. Responsibility without accountability is meaningless. At the CDC, their ineffectivenes

resulted in the President being in an elevator with an armed felon. I could understand not knowing immediately that the individual was a felon - and not all felons are dangerous. But there is no excusing the Secret Service for not determining that he was armed and not preventing his proximity to the President.

I'm not sure I would have stopped at the Secret Service Director. I'll ponder it a day, but I might have accepted the DHS Secretary resignation also.

The President personally selected Director Pierson and made a big deal about it. Did Joe Biden call for the President to resign over it?

[Nye Bevan]

34. It would be nice to have a SS head who thinks of keeping the White House front door locked (nt)

[ebbie15644]

10. more needs done!

[OldRedneck]

11. Hmmm. Yes, well . . .

According to CNN, she's being replaced with an acting director by the guy who was Chief of Presidential Protection Division ?????????? Coming out of retirement to take the job.

-- quote

Joseph Clancy, formerly special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division of the Secret Service, has been appointed to temporarily replace Julia Pierson

-- end quote

[JimDandy]

14. Hallelujah. Now get someone in that will work HARD

to keep Obama safe.

[Renew Deal]

17. That's a good thing

The Secret Service became a mess.

[tabasco]

19. Good. She's clearly incompetent. n/t

[jwirr]

21. Good.

[mountain grammy]

23. Good, now get the Secret Service out from under the monster that is

The Department of Homeland Security. FEMA too!

[calimary]

24. Another bit of encouraging news.

This and that gun-goon schmuck michael dunn finally got his just desserts. Encouraging. Even if only just a bit. She had to fall on her sword. These were some really ridiculously egregious failures. If the guy had a gun, we'd have had carnage for sure. And even though the guy just had a knife, there's plenty of damage - AND carnage that can be done with a knife, as we've now seen with the recent beheadings.

I can't believe there aren't more guards all over the premises of the White House - for THIS President and his family. This is the most threatened President we've ever had. Threats against him went up by some 400% compared to the threats against anybody else before him. One would think you'd beef up on security with that VERY PROVABLE fact. One would think there'd be patrols up and down the perimeter fence, PLUS another, higher fence. At least! I mean, the dead body in the Tomb of the Unknowns gets round-the-clock guard service, rain or shine, forcryingoutloud!!! A living, breathing President and his family including two under-age children doesn't rate even HALF that much - as some unidentified DEAD BODY is granted, from ages and ages ago??? Are you KIDDING me???? This particular civilian thinks so, anyway. But what do I know?

[hardtravelin]

25. One Guard with an unloaded rifle...

On a body that doesn't move. That's probably one of the most ridiculous bits of hyperbole I've read here in a long time.

[calimary]

27. Glad you liked it! LOL!

I would venture to add that even the presence of one single guard, with even an unloaded rifle, might have been at least SOME deterrent outside even ONE of those doors to the outside. Don't you suppose? There wasn't even that outside the White House! You're somehow okay with this? Where was even ONE guard with ANY visible fire-arm, loaded OR unloaded, along the path that the White House intruder took? WHERE? What about the guards that were visible at the left of your screen when that video of the intruder running across the lawn toward the building itself? They couldn't have taken off running after him and maybe intercepted him before he got inside? What was up with those two? In the video that played over and over and over, the intruder got all the way to the unlocked entrance - and where were those two guards at the kiosk over at the far left? Did they even bother to give chase? It doesn't look like it, from what I saw when I watched that video over and over. Were they overweight and unable to run? In which case, why were they stationed there, if they weren't in sufficient physical condition to be able to give chase?

I don't think it's hyperbole at all. But it's nice that you were entertained.

[Botany]

26. what took so long?

What should be one of the most protected buildings in the world had somebody
jump it's fence, run more then 50 yds to the front door, go into an unlocked door,
overpower the guard at the door, get into and run around the building because
the alarms were turned off, and was caught because an off duty secret service
agent just happened to be there.

BTW what still gets me where were the guard dogs? Because incidents like this
one is exactly why the have such guard dogs ..... overwhelming non lethal force
and if the person has a gun or a bomb then the dog gets it and not a human.

[pinto]

28. An appropriate choice, imo. And a wake up call for the whole management team. (nt)

[moondust]

29. And the agents who were on WH duty when Gonzalez got in?

Anybody? Tap on the wrist? Stern warning? Promotion for a (screw) job well done?

[Rhiannon12866]

30. Lawrence O'Donnell is discussing this now. That was my first thought, too...

[Turborama]

32. Good news. I think she should have been fired instead of being allowed to resign, though.

Thanks for sharing.