Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who leads Senate oversight of the Secret Service, is stressing the need for President Trump to choose an outside, independent leader to replace the agency’s retiring director, Joseph Clancy.
As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs panel, Johnson reacted to Tuesday’s news of Clancy’s retirement by pressing the Trump administration to hire a strong leader who comes from a different law enforcement background than the Secret Service.
“There are some real cultural issues in the Secret Service. I was hoping that Director Clancy could take care of that. There may have been some progress made but this is just one of the issues out there for [Department of Homeland Security secretary] Gen. Kelly,” Johnson told the Washington Examiner.
“We have to find a really good [new director],” he said. “From my perspective – I think a director from outside the Secret Service is needed and now would probably be a good time to do it.”
Clancy on Tuesday announced his retirement, effective March 4. In a note to his agency colleagues, Clancy said it was time for him to leave “for personal reasons” and said President Trump has been “very supportive of this agency and me personally, which makes this a very difficult decision.
“My love for this agency has only complicated the decision further, but for personal reasons, it is time,” he said. “I look forward to spending time with my family.”
Clancy also assured his colleagues in the Secret Service, which still suffers from low morale, that “better days are ahead for this agency with new leadership at the director’s position.”
“The search for a new director has been initiated and the selection will be the subject of a future message,” he said.
Clancy has led the Secret Service through a period of relative calm, with fewer instances of misconduct and reports of security lapses than in years prior. During his tenure, he worked to ramp up hiring to respond to an overworked staff and unprecedented demands, starting with Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States and continuing with the contentious presidential campaign.
Still, the Secret Service has faced new questions in recent weeks after the top agent in the Denver office suggested on Facebook that she would rather face “jail time” than take “a bullet for Trump.” The Secret Service launched a formal investigation only after the Washington Examiner’s report, even though top officials knew about the post and a complaint about it was filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general office Oct. 11.
After the Association of Former Agents U.S. Secret Service, the premier organization for retired agents, expelled the agent in question, Kerry O’Grady, Clancy urged agents to exercise “patience” while the agency conducts its investigation into O’Grady’s anti-Trump social media activity.
Former and active agents have questioned whether the Secret Service tried to cover up the allegations of misconduct against O’Grady or privately condoned her social media activity until the public backlash.
Clancy came out of retirement more than two years ago to lead the agency after a particularly turbulent period marked by security missteps.
President Obama in 2015 ignored calls for a new leader from outside the Secret Service issued by an independent panel created to review the agency’s problems and recommend changes. The panel found that agency was “starved for leadership.” Instead, Obama installed Clancy, a 27-year veteran of the agency who had retired in 2011 to take a top security post at Comcast. Obama’s decision to tap Clancy came after a string of security lapses came to light, including an incident in which a fence-jumper made it into the heart of the White House before being apprehended.
It was the second attempt to reform the agency in recent years after then-President Obama named Julia Pierson as director after a prostitution scandal in Colombia cost several agents their jobs. Reports in 2014 about the security lapses forced Pierson to resign.
