Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.

 

1 October 2014

Secret Service chief resigns & is replaced by another screw-up

Updated again, at 2128 MDT. Had it right the first time. The NYT now says:

His tenure included a controversy of its own: Mr. Clancy was in charge of White House security when Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashed a party at the White House in 2009.

Not a good choice, in my opinion. If Clancy was the best man available, the Secret Service is in very deep trouble.

Updated. This paragraph from the NY Times’ report on Secret Service Julia Pierson’s resignation just boggles the mind:

In a statement, Mr. Johnson [Secretary of Homeland Security] said that he had appointed Joseph Clancy, a former agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division, to become the Secret Service’s acting director. Mr. Clancy was in charge of the presidential detail the night in November 2009 when Michaele and Tareq Salahi, then a married couple, managed to get past Secret Service checkpoints for President Obama’s first state dinner without being on the guest list.

Update, 1808 MDT. In the story now on the NYT’s website, the second sentence in the paragraph above was deleted, but no correction notice was added. The paragraph now reads:

In a statement, Mr. Johnson said that he had appointed Joseph Clancy, a former agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division, to become the Secret Service’s acting director.

Johnson should join Pierson on the unemployment line for making so stupid an appointment. Update. How stupid, if stupid at all, the appointment was remains to be seen.

I don’t expect perfect security at the White House or around the President. I want it, but it’s not possible. People will make mistakes. But better people than some now working for the Secret Service will make fewer and less serious mistakes. It’s time for the agency to grab a broom and manure fork and clean out the stinkers.