The director of the Secret Service is stepping down almost two and a half years after being coaxed out of retirement from public service.
Joseph Clancy began working for the Secret Service in 1984 and eventually rose to lead former President Barack Obama's protective detail in 2009. He retired in 2011, moved to his native Philadelphia with his family, and began working as security director for Comcast.
Amid several problems within the Secret Service; however, Obama asked for Clancy's replacement's resignation in 2014 and called Clancy on the phone the same day, asking him to come back and work as acting director. Clancy accepted and successfully navigated the agency out of hot water.
According to The Washington Post, Clancy has once again decided to hang up his government badge and rejoin his family in Philadelphia.
Clancy told the Post he was most proud of his agency successfully executing two demanding, and simultaneous, security operations in 2015: Pope Francis' visit to the United States and a United Nations General Assembly meeting that involved 170 foreign heads of state.
"We had been going through a tough time, but I could see in their eyes and hear in their voices they were determined to succeed," Clancy told the Post. "They wanted to prove to everyone they could complete this most difficult mission, and they did. I knew they were exhausted but they were determined and knowing what they had been through over recent years it was inspirational to me."
The Secret Service has faced several scandals in recent years involving drunk and disorderly conduct from agents in the U.S. and on overseas trips. Director Julia Pierson resigned in 2014 after a mentally ill man armed with a knife jumped the White House fence, ran across the North Lawn, and made his way into the executive mansion. A Secret Officer tackled him outside the Green Room on the first floor.
Clancy was originally supposed to serve as acting director of the agency, but Obama persuaded him to come on board full-time. Clancy, now 61, led the Secret Service through the demanding 2016 presidential election, which presented a difficult challenge for the agency because of the bitter political atmosphere.
In December, Obama signed a bill that authorized overworked Secret Service agents to be paid for working overtime in 2016. Many agents had been working overtime hours for free for several months because they had hit their annual pay allowance.
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