President Obama Chooses Female Director for Secret Service

President Obama has appointed Julia A. Pierson to take the reins of the Secret Service, marking the first time a female has ever been director of the agency.

Ms. Pierson has been in the agency since 1983. She’s climbed the ranks during her time, moving from entry-level agent to presidential protective detail, serving as the agency’s Drug Program Coordinator, and eventually becoming the Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Protective Operations in 1996. 

Pierson became chief of staff to former director Mark J. Sullivan in Washington, D.C. in 2008.

She takes the lead at the agency in the wake of Sullivan’s resignation following a prostitution scandal involving Secret Service agents in Colombia.