(WASHINGTON) — In the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the U.S. Secret Service has faced mounting scrutiny for its failure to prevent the attack.
Much of the criticism has been aimed at the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle. Cheatle, who was appointed to the role by President Joe Biden in 2022, had previously been the senior director in global security at PepsiCo.
Prior to her time at PepsiCo, she had served with the Secret Service for more than 25 years, including on Biden’s security detail while he was vice president.
In a statement announcing her appointment, Biden said he had “complete trust” in Cheatle, to whom in 2021 he bestowed a Presidential Rank Award, which honors “exceptional performance” as a high-ranking federal civil servant.
“When Kim served on my security detail when I was Vice President, we came to trust her judgement and counsel,” Biden said. “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.”
Cheatle is one of only two women to ever serve as director of the Secret Service. Previously, she had been the first woman to serve as the agency’s assistant director of protective operations.
In a 2022 interview with the trade publication Security Magazine, Cheatle reflected on being a woman in the Secret Service.
“That achievement in a male-dominated industry was not lost on me,” Cheatle said. “I kept a photo on my desk of the first five women sworn into the service, and I used that to remind me that these women created opportunities for me and I can help others grow and lead as well.”
Cheatle graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, according to the News-Gazette, and she first applied for a job as a Secret Service agent before leaving school.
She credited her brother — who had aspired to be a state trooper but was killed in a car accident in 1988 — with inspiring her career path.
“I probably am in law enforcement today as a direct result of my brother,” she told the News-Gazette.
Since the shooting on Saturday, numerous Republican lawmakers have called for Cheatle to answer questions about how the agency failed to prevent the attack, which left one rallygoer dead. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Elon Musk have taken it a step further, calling for her to resign.
Some of the criticism of Cheatle has focused on her being a woman, with prominent conservatives calling her a “DEI hire” and female Secret Service agents in general as having “physical limitations” that should prevent them from serving.
Next Monday, Cheatle is expected to testify before the GOP-led House Oversight Committee about the assassination attempt. In a statement announcing the hearing, chairman James Comer said “Americans demand answers” from Cheatle.
“The United States Secret Service has a no-fail mission, yet it failed on Saturday when a madman attempted to assassinate President Trump, killed an innocent victim, and harmed others,” Comer said. “We are grateful to the brave Secret Service agents who acted quickly to protect President Trump after shots were fired and the American patriots who sought to help victims, but questions remain about how a rooftop within proximity to President Trump was left unsecure.”
In a statement Monday, Cheatle said the Secret Service is working to understand how Saturday’s shooting took place and that the agency is cooperating with investigations into Secret Service protocol around the incident.
“The Secret Service is tasked with the tremendous responsibility of protecting the current and former leaders of our democracy,” she said. “It is a responsibility that I take incredibly seriously, and I am committed to fulfilling that mission.”
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