Kimberly Cheatle has been the Director of the Secret Service for less than two years. She has had a 25-year career with the Service, holding multiple positions until she was appointed by President Biden as its Director in 2022.
Based on her biography, there are signs she was a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hire.
Cheatle joined the United States Secret Service in 1995 after failing on the first try, eventually serving on Joe Biden's protective detail during the Obama administration when she was assigned to the Vice Presidential Protective Division. In 2017 and 2018, she served as deputy assistant director. Cheatle also served as special agent in charge of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, office. She became the first woman to serve as assistant Director of Protective Operations, a department tasked with protecting the president and dignitaries. She left the Secret Service in 2019 and became the head of security for Pepsico with a salary of $1.2 million annually.
During a CBS News interview in May 2023, Cheatle stated the Secret Service, which had a 48% quit rate, needed to "attract diverse candidates and give opportunities to everybody in the workforce, particularly women." She said she aims to have 30% women in the agency by 2030.
No one asked her why agents were quitting in such high numbers. Insiders claim a culture change reflecting DEI mandates that pushed out agents near retirement and inculcated new agents into the religion of DEI.
On July 13, 2024, during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Cheatle was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the 2024 Republican National Convention was to be held. In the wake of the shooting, Cheatle acknowledged the failure of the Secret Service, calling it "unacceptable."
However, Cheatle told ABC News that she would not resign from her position. This is very telling, and she shares with her staff that responsibility is never personal; it's institutional. Therefore, no one needs to take personal responsibility.
This is the heart of how DEI works. DEI is anti-individualistic, replacing personal responsibility with the collective.
The precise mechanics of Cheatle's appointment are unclear, including whether the Secret Service conducted the selection process or if the White House, specifically Jill Biden, made the decision herself. Cheatle worked on then-second lady Biden's detail.
Cheatle's tenure with the Secret Service generally consisted of mid-level management duties with little accomplishment in the field.
Cheatle frequently uses the expression "The buck stops with me," but does it?
Donald Trump's "Package," the number and kind of agents assigned to him were considered inadequate for years. Trump was a known target for individuals who may have thought they were doing God's work in killing Hitler. This was widely understood and included in the Threat Matrix, which the Secret Service considers their Bible. The Service was also very aware of an assassination threat from Iran.
The near-assassination of former President Donald Trump is failure. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said as much, according to the New York Post:
"When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure," he said Monday on CNN; on ABC, it was: "A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur."
Not that she's the only one facing questions: According to the New York Post, she got her directorship thanks to a close relationship with First Lady Jill Biden after serving on the Bidens' vice presidential detail.
This leads one to question whether the best and brightest was the prime prerequisite for selection or the fact that Ms. Cheatle is female. If she is a lesbian, as some on the Internet claim, that checks off two boxes.
Progressives just don't get it, but we do. DEI's sole purpose is to overturn gender and racial stereotypes and force a redistribution of wealth and opportunity based on the false assumption that we are equal in ability and, therefore, should share equally in wealth and opportunity. More than half the country understands that this assumption is a logical fallacy. The rest of the DEI adherents blindly believe in it as any religious zealot or cult does. Until recently, these people did not have the power or the reach to affect the rest of us. Beginning with Obama, the ground beneath us shifted with magnetic North flipped on its axis.
According to the New York Post, former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino stated:
“I want to repeat and can absolutely confirm, the USSS Director Kim Cheatle has repeatedly turned down requests for a larger security footprint around President Trump,” Bongino added. “Despite knowing the threat level is catastrophic. Resign tonight.”
A slew of close calls have reached the highest government level. Example: Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was "livid" last year over a case in which an intruder snuck into the home of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in 2023, according to sources cited by NBC News.
Now Cheatle is telling ABC News that "the Secret Service is responsible for the protection of the former president" and "the buck stops with me; I am the director of the Secret Service."
She said she had no intention of resigning.
Is this taking responsibility?
It is evident to anyone observing that Progressive appointees value a social agenda over that of a particular agency's reason for existence. Whether we are talking about the military, DOJ, Homeland Security, government agencies in general, or, in this case, the U.S. Secret Service, DEI hires are undermining our country in plain sight. We must not let Trump's enemies get a second shot. Vote for Donald Trump for President!
God Bless America.
Allan J. Feifer is a patriot, author, businessman, thinker, and strategist. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com.
Image: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service Public Domain Archive // public domain