Secret Service Director Randolph Alles stepped down from his position Monday less than a day after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned.
Alles, who reports to the DHS Secretary, was reportedly told last month he would be asked to depart, according to ABC News.
“United States Secret Service director Randolph ‘Tex’ Alles has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the President is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
“Mr. Alles will be leaving shortly and President Trump has selected James M. Murray, a career member of the [United States Secret Service], to take over as director beginning in May.”
President Trump called Ms. Nielsen to the White House over her failure to reduce the number of migrants both entering the country unlawfully and those requesting asylum at ports of entry. The president essentially said to Ms. Nielsen, “Why should I keep you?” said one administration official.
“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service. I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs, and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary of @DHSgov,” Mr. Trump tweeted around 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The president announced later announced that Kevin K. McAleenan, the Customs, and Border Protection commission, would become his Acting Homeland Security secretary.
“I hereby resign from the position of Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), effective April 7th, 2018 (sic),” Ms. Nielsen said in her resignation letter. “Despite our progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside.”
“I hope that the next Secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse,” she continued. “Our country – and the men and women of DHS – deserve to have all the tools and resources they need to execute the mission entrusted to them.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna and Office of the General Counsel’s John Mitnick are also expected to leave the department soon.
“By the end of the week, more than half of the department’s agency heads could be gone with the positions vacant or with acting [personnel],” one official told ABC News.
The decision to remove Alles was reportedly unrelated to an incident last week in which a Chinese national was arrested after entering Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida while in possession of electronics which included a malware-infected thumb drive.
“Secret Service has done a fantastic job from Day 1. Very happy with them,” Trump said after the Mar-a-Lago incident.
Alles previously led Air and Marine Operations for Customs and Border Protection, and he is a 35-year Marine Corps veteran.
(Washington Free Beacon)
