Key lawmakers who previously told The Washington Times that President Trump should pick an outsider to lead the embattled Secret Service after two attempts on his life are accepting his decision to tap a 23-year insider as the agency’s next director.
Mr. Trump this week named Sean Curran, the head of his personal protective detail, as Secret Service director, calling him “a brilliant leader” who has proved he can run operational security plans for complex events.
The main reason Mr. Trump said he trusts Mr. Curran is his personal involvement in protecting him and his family the past few years, including jumping in the line of fire when a gunman shot at Mr. Trump at a campaign rally last summer.
“He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Mr. Trump said. “I have complete and total confidence in Sean to make the United States Secret Service stronger than ever before.”
An independent review panel of former law enforcement officials who investigated the Butler assassination attempt recommended the next Secret Service director come from outside the agency to inject “fresh thinking” into an organization that has “become bureaucratic, complacent and static.”
Senators who separately investigated the July 13 Butler assassination attempt, as well as a Sept. 15 incident where the Secret Service thwarted a would-be assassin at Mr. Trump’s golf club in Florida, told The Times last year that they agreed with that recommendation.
“I would get an outsider that really knows how to run an organization and knows something about security,” Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said at the time.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, likewise said that picking someone from outside the agency was preferable “because there really is a need for new managerial perspective and expertise.”
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Blumental are the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which, along with the full committee, has been investigating the two assassination attempts on Mr. Trump. The panel issued an interim report last fall, and committee leaders tell The Times they plan to wrap up their investigation this Congress.
In brief interviews after Mr. Trump eschewed the review panel’s recommendation and tapped Mr. Curran as the next Secret Service director, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Blumenthal didn’t object to the choice.
“It’s his call,” Mr. Johnson said. “I don’t know the man, but he obviously showed a great deal of bravery and has the president’s trust.”
Asked if the decision was a missed opportunity to bring in fresh perspective from outside the Secret Service to usher in needed reforms, he said he wouldn’t second-guess the president.
“There’s not a man on earth who’s more aware of the fact that they need to fix the Secret Service, and no person on earth who needs the Secret Service working effectively than President Trump,” Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Blumenthal is still reviewing Mr. Curran’s record but said it’s comforting to see he wasn’t involved in the planning for the Butler rally, where critical security gaps contributed to the assassination attempt.
“I’ll be interested in knowing whether he can bring a fresh perspective. He’s someone who has been on the ground, hands-on, and he may have a fresh perspective,” he said. “I’m not dismissing that he will bring new leadership that’s needed.”
Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the full Homeland Security panel, said he doesn’t know much about Mr. Curran but that he respects Mr. Trump making a personal decision in choosing his Secret Service director.
“I think if you survive a couple of assassination attempts, you deserve to have somebody you feel comfortable with,” the Kentucky Republican told The Times.
House lawmakers who served on a bipartisan panel that investigated the assassination attempts also told The Times that what is most important is that Mr. Trump has someone in charge of the Secret Service he trusts.
“They have a close relationship, and they know each other really well. So you just have to trust in that judgment,” Rep. Clay Higgins, Louisiana Republican, said.
Mr. Trump’s trust in Mr. Curran is “an excellent foundation to build upon,” Mr. Higgins said, noting Mr. Curran can still hire outside experts to help him run the agency.
Rep. David Joyce, Ohio Republican, said Mr. Trump “obviously feels comfortable” with Mr. Curran, who “has good reviews.”
Although Mr. Trump tapped an insider, Mr. Joyce said the Secret Service needs a wholesale change in its culture “to get back to being a proactive agency instead of reactive agency.”
Mr. Trump’s “life depends on it,” he said.
Mr. Curran replaces Ronald Rowe, who was the acting Secret Service director since late July, when the previous permanent director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned under pressure after Butler.
Mr. Rowe began implementing changes at the agency, including enhanced communications, technology and training, intended to institute what he repeatedly called a “paradigm shift” from a state of reaction to a state of readiness.
It’s unclear what Mr. Curran’s plans for the Secret Service are, but lawmakers said they will be watching and ready to assist with needed changes.
Two congressional committees will also continue to investigate the assassination attempts.
Mr. Paul said the Senate Homeland Security Committee will reissue requests for records that the Biden administration withheld.
For example, he cited at least four instances in which the Secret Service reportedly turned down requests for countersnipers at Trump rallies prior to Butler, saying it’s important to find out if the denial was politicized.
“We never really got to the bottom of that, they stonewalled us, so we’ll see,” Mr Paul said. “But I think we’ll get bipartisan cooperation on it.”
Mr. Johnson, who also complained about the Biden administration stonewalling the Homeland Security panel’s probe, in particular lack of cooperation from the FBI, said he expects the Trump administration to dig up answers to some of the lingering questions.
“Now that we have the administration on our side of the ledger here, they’re going to look into this as well, so there’s not as much pressure on us trying to get information that we think may be covered up,” he said.
Mr. Higgins is also going to continue probing the Trump assassination attempts, in particular the FBI’s handling of the Butler investigation, as the chair of a new House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement.
He said his panel’s jurisdiction will extend to other instances of “betrayal” from federal law enforcement agencies.
“We’re going to look real close at abuses of authority,” Mr. Higgins said, noting he has “stacks of files.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.