Holmes Norton: Secret Service ‘problem goes beyond personnel’

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said Wednesday she’s not calling for the resignation of the Secret Service director because a “change of the guard at the top” will not solve the problems illustrated in recent security breaches.

Director Julia Pierson was given the reins last year, after a series of embarrassing scandals for the Secret Service, Holmes Norton said, and another change is not enough.  

{mosads}”I have not called for her resignation because I believe the problem goes beyond personnel,” she said on CNN. “She was brought in to correct a problem. That was a problem with agents essentially doing things off duty that they shouldn’t have been doing — with drinking and carousing. OK, maybe she corrected that problem. Now, we’ll bring in someone to correct another aspect of the problem? That is not enough here.”

She called the Secret Service “old-fashioned” and ill equipped to deal with modern problems. Like others, she called for an independent review of the agency. 

“We need a total overhaul of that agency,” she said. “It is not equipped for a 21st century terrorism, domestic and international mandate.”

The Secret Service and its director are under mounting criticism, after security lapses led to an intruder allegedly jumping the fence and entering the White House with a knife last month. 

The congresswoman said the director has a “credibility” problem with the public after failing initially to release details of the incident. 

Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) both recently called for Pierson’s resignation. Holmes Norton said others privately feel the same way. 

“Most people didn’t call for a resignation, not because some of them don’t believe it should happen, but because they know that won’t solve the problem,” she said.