Representative Elijah Cummings, in a television interview, berated the “culture of complacency” that has blighted the Secret Service. He said that the departure of Julia Pierson, the Director of Secret Service, does not mean the end of change. He warned that there will be other modifications in the future too. The Director was changed due to a series of spectacular security lapses.

Cummings, the top-ranking Democrat on House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that the changes did not start with Pierson, and it will not end with her exit. He added that there are many more who probably will be asked to leave.

Asked to go

Cummings, along with other committee members like Representative Jason Chaffetz lambasted Pierson during the course of the hearing in the first week of October over handling of presidential security. The committee started to dig into a wide swathe of institutional problems plaguing Secret Service. Pierson submitted her resignation the next day.

According to Cummings, the Secret Service agents were afraid that the information they will send to the top person will never receive it. The agents were fearful of retaliation. He told the media that it was a baseless allegation that Obama is not being properly protected due to his skin color. Cummings himself is an African-American.

Cummings said that the committee has information that implies that the state of matter goes all way back to US administration at the time of George Bush. The majority of the problems that have come to light are many years old and have been in existence before President Obama was elected the president.

Interim director and Pierson interrogation

Dan Pfieffer, the Senior Adviser of the White House, said that Joseph Clancy will be the Director of the Secret Service in the interim period. He will be responsible for the weeding out of further problems. Clancy will also be tasked with searching a permanent replacement.

Observers have described the Julia Pierson interrogation process as a horror movie replay. She came before a congressional committee which was probing the White House security breach that occurred a few days before. In the incident, a mentally ill person carrying a knife vaulted the fence, went inside the White House, and ran past the Presidential family quarters. The event was horrifying as there is a real threat to the president from multiple sources, and there is more than an even chance that such attempts may be repeated.