WASHINGTON — Battered by a mounting series of security lapses, the head of the Secret Service resigned Wednesday, a day after enduring fierce criticism from lawmakers for failing to fix what they called systemic problems in the agency.
The agency’s director, Julia A. Pierson, herself brought in as a reformer amid embarrassments including a prostitution scandal in 2012, will be replaced by retired agent Joseph Clancy.
Pierson’s tenure began to unravel when an intruder with a knife scaled a fence and ran into the White House on Sept. 19, followed by days of revelations that undermined the initial Secret Service account of what happened. A torrent of news reports also uncovered the agency’s fumbled response to a 2011 shooting attack on the White House and an elevator ride last month that President Obama shared with a security contractor who was armed, which Secret Service agents were unaware of at the time.
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