US president Joe Biden has appointed Kimberly Cheatle as the new director of the Secret Service.
Ms Cheatle has served in the Secret Service for 27 years and was the first woman to be named assistant director of protective operations, the division that provides protection to the president and other dignitaries.
In 2021, she was awarded the Presidential Rank Award by Mr Biden.
She is currently working as as a security executive at PepsiCo.
Ms Cheatle will become the second woman to head the Secret Service after Julia Pierson who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2013.
“Kim has had a long and distinguished career at the Secret Service, having risen through the ranks during her 27 years with the agency, becoming the first woman in the role of Assistant Director of protective operations,” Mr Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Jill [First Lady] and I know firsthand Kim’s commitment to her job and to the Secret Service’s people and mission. When Kim served on my security detail when I was Vice President, we came to trust her judgement and counsel.
“She is a distinguished law enforcement professional with exceptional leadership skills, and was easily the best choice to lead the agency at a critical moment for the Secret Service. She has my complete trust, and I look forward to working with her,” he added.
Prior to her stint as assistant director of protective operations, Ms Cheatle served as Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Office, providing oversight for all mission-related investigations, protective intelligence and protective visits in the state of Georgia.
Her appointment comes as the Secret Service is at the centre of growing criticism after admitting that text messages from around the time of the Capitol riot in January last year were deleted.
In a statement on 14 July, a spokesperson for the Secret Service denied that personnel “maliciously deleted text messages”.
“In fact, the Secret Service has been fully cooperating with the [DHS inspector general] in every respect – whether it be interviews, documents, emails, or texts,” Anthony Guglielmi said.
In addition, personnel from the Secret Service personnel were invoked in several testimonies to the House select committee probing insurrection last year.
This has raised serious questions about the behaviour of former president Donald Trump and his attempts to provoke a mob and subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Welcoming Ms Cheatle to lead the Secret Service, Mr Guglielmi said she “is a law enforcement veteran and served as the first female assistant director in charge of all protective operations for the agency before retiring”.
“We are ecstatic to welcome her back as the next Director of the United States Secret Service,” he said in a tweet.
