WASHINGTON — The Secret Service is removing four of its most senior officials while two others are retiring, the biggest management shake-up at the troubled agency since its director resigned in October after a string of security lapses, according to people familiar with internal discussions.
The departures would gut much of the Secret Service’s upper management, which has been criticized by lawmakers and administration officials in recent months for fostering a culture of distrust between agency leaders and its rank-and-file, and for making poor decisions that helped erode the quality of this once elite agency.
Acting Director Joseph Clancy on Tuesday informed the four assistant directors who oversee the Secret Service’s core missions of protection, investigations, technology and public affairs that they must leave their leadership positions.
If they do not resign or retire, they can report for a new assignment with the Secret Service or its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the discussions.
“Change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct business,” Clancy said in a statement to The Washington Post. “I am certain any of our senior executives will be productive and valued assets either in other positions at the Secret Service or the department.”
The departures of six out of the agency’s eight assistant directors follows a scathing report last month by a DHS-appointed panel that concluded the agency was suffering from low morale among the rank-and-file and was “starved for leadership.”
Yet Clancy’s moves stopped short of a total house cleaning. The agency’s longtime second-in-command, deputy director Alvin Smith, who has been a central decision maker over agency budgets and priorities under the last three directors, remained in his post.
Clancy, who assumed his current job after the October resignation of Director Julia Pierson, declined to say how he will fill the vacant leadership posts.
