Trump's new Secret Service boss faces calls for agency overhaul
Source: Washington Post
March 16, 2025 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Sean Curran faces a tough task as the new director of the Secret Service: reforming the troubled protective agency months after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally, its worst security debacle in decades.
Congressional lawmakers and outside experts want Curran to shake up the agency’s leadership, overhaul security planning at big events, and even rethink the structure of the 8,000-person agency.
Its problems include a chronically overworked staff and a multibillion-dollar budget that service officials say has not kept pace with rising threats against U.S. leaders. Curran, the former head of Trump’s Secret Service detail, helped shield the candidate when a man fired at a fairground stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer. While he was not blamed for the critical errors that day, Curran is now charged with fixing them.
The directorship is new territory for Curran, 48, an agent for more than 20 years who until his appointment by Trump in January had never held an executive role in government. Many current and former agents say they respect him for his rigor as a supervisor and penchant for tough assignments. But he is untested when it comes to managing a full agency — let alone running the service during a period of historic scrutiny and pressure on his workforce.
Under Curran’s leadership, service officials “are rebuilding their plane in flight,” said Rep. Jason Crow (Colorado), the top Democrat on a House task force that investigated the Butler shooting. “They’re being asked to do more than ever before,” Crow said in an interview. “They have to protect the top leadership of this country at the same time when there are massive challenges for morale, funding, training and coordination with other [law enforcement] agencies. I hope Director Curran is up to the job.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/03/16/secret-service-director-sean-curran-reform/
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