![Secret Service director Julia Pierson](https://cdn.govexec.com/media/img/cd/2014/04/09/040914JuliaPiersonGE/860x394.jpg?1626889582)
Secret Service director Julia Pierson Cliff Owen/AP
Here’s How the Secret Service Is Trying to Clean Up Its Act
Director Julia Pierson is instituting a number of changes to the agency.
In the wake of a number of embarrassing incidents involving Secret Service agents getting hammered, Director Julia Pierson has instituted a number of changes to the agency. According to Carol Leonnig at The Washington Post, those changes include demoting one of the agency’s most prominent supervisors, reassigning almost two dozen staff members, and stricter drinking regulations.
Those drinking rules apply to employees in the Secret Service’s special operations division, which is tasked with protecting the president. Agents are not allowed to drink less than 12 hours before reporting for duty, and 24 hours before the president’s arrival at any trip location.
The changes comes in the wake of embarrassing incidents for the Secret Service in Amsterdam — when one agent got too slizzard and fell asleep in a hotel hallway — and in Florida, where an agent was pulled over (but not arrested) on suspicion of driving under the influence.