Obama appoints first woman Secret Service director

Julia Pierson, new USA Secrete Service DirectorPresident Barack Obama on Tuesday chose veteran agent Julia Pierson as Secret Service director, the first woman to lead the male-dominated agency, a year after its reputation was tarnished by a scandal involving agents and prostitutes in Colombia.

Pierson will replace Mark Sullivan, who retired in February and was in charge during the Colombia scandal - one of the worst in the agency's history.

The Secret Service has been criticized for having an insular, male-dominated culture, and Pierson's appointment also comes as Obama fends off criticism that his second-term picks for high-level posts have not included enough women and minority candidates.

Pierson, a native of Florida, is currently chief of staff at the Secret Service and began her career as a special agent with the Miami field office in 1983.

"Julia is eminently qualified to lead the agency that not only safeguards Americans at major events and secures our financial system, but also protects our leaders and our first families, including my own," Obama said in a statement.

Starting in 1988, Pierson served four years with the Presidential Protective Division, and she became deputy assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations in 2005.

The Secret Service has been trying to rebuild its image after the April 2012 scandal when agency employees in Cartagena ahead of a visit by Obama took prostitutes to their hotel rooms.

A dozen Secret Service employees were accused of misconduct, and at least seven of them have left the agency.

Sullivan apologized to Congress last year for the episode, which he said reflected poor decisions by agents and was not representative of the agency's culture. A new code of conduct was implemented banning alcohol use within 10 hours of duty and patronizing "non-reputable" establishments.

"Julie was selected because she is competent, and she has been around for 30 years and understands the service well," Ralph Basham, a former Secret Service director, told Reuters.

Law enforcement experts point out that Pierson will not be an anomaly in the broader federal law enforcement community - the heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service are women.

reuters.com