On Thursday, James Murray, the US Secret Service Director announced that he was retiring. He will be leaving Silicon Valley for the White House. Murray will be taking over the security directorate at Snapchat parent company, beginning August, after 27 years of government service.
Murray “embodies the meaning of service over self, and protected the families of US Presidents like they were part of his own. We are incredibly grateful for his service to our country and our family,”In a statement, President Joe Biden’s wife Jill commented on their departure.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary, said that he “benefited tremendously”Murray is a great choice. “a trusted advisor and highly regarded leader”At the DHS which oversees the Secret Service from 2003.
Donald Trump appointed Murray to take over as Secret Service Director in May 2019. Murray was the director for three years. “contributed significantly to the agency’s continued professionalization and growth, and helped the agency navigate the unique challenges presented by the historic [Covid]-19 pandemic,”The Secret Service made the statement in a statement.
Snap said the company was “thrilled” to have Murray as their head of security. When he reports to his new job on August 1, he will be in charge of security for the company’s 5,000 employees worldwide and report directly to co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel.
Murray began his career in the Secret Service as a financial analyst in 1995. He was then transferred to the Presidential Protection branch in 2001. Murray was initially offered the position in April but he decided to wait until July to avoid being a “distraction from the president’s NATO summit, the Summit of the Americas out in Los Angeles and the G7 summit,”Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesperson, told The Daily Mail. He also wanted to wait until he could present the agency’s budget request to Congress, Guglielmi added.
Recently, the Secret Service was brought up in the debate about the 2021 Riot at the US Capitol. During a televised hearing before the House January 6 committee at the end of June, Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, claimed that Trump had attacked his head of security Bobby Engel after he refused to drive him to the Capitol that day. Hutchinson stated that she had heard it from Tony Ornato (deputy chief of staff), and Engel was not disputing the report at the time.
However, the Secret Service said Hutchinson’s claim was not true, and that both Engel and Trump’s driver were willing to testify under oath to that effect.
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