President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced the appointment of Kimberly Cheatle to be the next director of the Secret Service.
Cheatle’s appointment comes at a time that Biden acknowledges is a “critical moment” for the agency, as the Secret Service grapples with scandals related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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“Jill and I know firsthand Kim’s commitment to her job and to the Secret Service’s people and mission,” Biden said in a statement. “When Kim served on my security detail when I was Vice President, we came to trust her judgement and counsel. She is a distinguished law enforcement professional with exceptional leadership skills, and was easily the best choice to lead the agency at a critical moment for the Secret Service. She has my complete trust, and I look forward to working with her.”
Cheatle has more than 25 years of experience working for the agency, including as part of Biden’s security detail when he was vice president and as assistant director of the agency’s Office of Protective Operations. She is currently a senior director at PepsiCo North America.
Cheatle will replace the retiring head of the agency, James Murray, and become only the second woman to lead the Secret Service.
“Ms. Cheatle is an experienced leader, a veteran of the Secret Service, who advanced through the ranks to become the first woman in the role of Assistant Director of the Office of Protective Operations before departing for the private sector,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “She has deep knowledge and understanding of the Agency’s missions to investigate and protect. I am confident that her skillset, combined with her fresh perspective, will ensure the Secret Service builds on its strong foundation to grow and evolve into an even more effective agency.”
The Secret Service, whose parent agency is the Department of Homeland Security, has been under fire for its failure to provide text messages from agents from around Jan. 6. to the House committee investigating the riot. The messages were lost during a “device replacement program,” according to the DHS.
However, the heads of the House Oversight Committee and the Jan. 6 committee allege that the DHS Office of Inspector General “may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records.”
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The Justice Department is reportedly seeking the personal cellphone numbers of more than 2,000 Secret Service workers as part of its investigation into Jan. 6, a request that has outraged the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, a group that advocates for members of law enforcement.
Last week, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said that in the days leading up to Jan. 6, the Secret Service withheld notifying the Capitol Police of online threats made against lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), until hours after rioters breached the Capitol.
