President Trump on Wednesday nominated Sean Curran as director of the United States Secret Service.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said Curran is “a great patriot, who has protected my family over the past several years, and that is why I trust him to lead the brave men and women of the Secret of the United States. Service.”
Curran previously served as a special agent in charge of Trump’s security for four years and rushed to cover for him on stage for the first assassination attempt against him on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. In his role leading the former president’s protection team, he oversaw 85 people.
“He demonstrated his intrepid courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Trump wrote Wednesday.
Evan Vucci/AP
Curran first joined the agency in September 2001 and was promoted to Deputy Special Agent in Charge for Presidential Protection on December 29. This unit – numbering hundreds of agents – is responsible for protecting the current president and the first family.
Trump’s choice rejects recommendations from two bipartisan commissions that recommended in 2015 and earlier this year that the next president choose someone outside the agency to serve as director.
Unlike other ministerial positions or that of director of the FBI, the nomination to head the secret service does not require a Senate confirmation vote.
Curran will replace Ron Rowe, who fulfilled the role as acting director since July, when Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned following fierce backlash over the agency’s failure to stop a would-be assassin from targeting Trump at a campaign rally, in addition to injuring two rally attendees and killing 50-year-old attendee Cory Comperatore .
The top position will be Curran’s first job at the service’s headquarters. He is not currently a member of the Senior Executive Service, made up of the agency’s most senior officials.