Kimberly Cheatle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kimberly Cheatle
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| 27th Director of the United States Secret Service | |
| In office September 17, 2022 – July 23, 2024 |
|
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | James M. Murray |
| Succeeded by | Ronald L. Rowe, Jr. (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kimberly A. Cheatle
1970/1971 (age 53–54) Hinsdale, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Eastern Illinois University (BA) |
| Awards | Presidential Rank Award (2021) |
Kimberly A. Cheatle (born 1970/1971) is an American former law enforcement officer who served as the 27th director of the United States Secret Service from 2022 to 2024. She joined the United States Secret Service in 1995. She left the Secret Service in 2019 and served at PepsiCo as senior director of global security from 2019 to 2022. She assumed the office as director of the United States Secret Service in September 2022 by the appointment from President Joe Biden.
She was in charge of the Secret Service during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, which brought her into the national spotlight where she faced congressional hearing, widespread criticism, and calls to resign. She resigned on July 23, 2024.
Early life and education
Cheatle was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, and grew up in Danville, Illinois. She graduated from Eastern Illinois University where she majored in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice.
Career
Cheatle joined the United States Secret Service in 1995. She was involved in the evacuation of Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney during the September 11 attacks and served on Joe Biden's protective detail during the Obama Administration, when she was assigned to the Vice Presidential Protective Division. In 2017 and 2018, she served as deputy assistant director. She served as special-agent-in-charge in the Grand Rapids, Michigan office. She became the first woman to serve as assistant director of Protective Operations, a unit tasked with protection of the President of the United States and dignitaries.
From 2019 to 2022, Cheatle served as senior director of global security at PepsiCo.
In 2021, President Joe Biden awarded Cheatle a Presidential Rank Award for exceptional performance. In August 2022, President Biden announced the appointment of Cheatle as director of the United States Secret Service, and she assumed office on September 17, 2022.
Cheatle told CBS News the agency needed to "attract diverse candidates and give opportunities to everybody in the workforce, particularly women," outlining her goal that by 2030, thirty percent of its recruits would be female.
Attempted assassination of Donald Trump
On July 13, 2024, during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Cheatle was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the 2024 Republican National Convention was due to commence in two days. In the wake of the shooting and criticism of her leadership, Cheatle acknowledged the failure of the Secret Service, calling it "unacceptable." However, Cheatle told ABC News that she would not resign from her position and defended herself by saying that local law enforcement had been responsible for securing the building from which the shooter launched his attack.
On July 20, 2024, Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-PA) called on Cheatle to resign in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, making him the first congressional Democrat to do so. Earlier, House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Cheatle to resign, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called for new leadership at the agency on the same day.
On July 22, 2024, Cheatle testified before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability about the assassination attempt. During the hearing, she acknowledged it was "the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades" and faced a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling for her to resign. However, she pledged not to resign. Cheatle also acknowledged that the Secret Service had rebuffed requests for additional resources for Trump's security detail in the two years leading up to the assassination attempt. That was a reversal from an earlier statement from the week prior in which an agency spokesman denied that such requests had been turned down.
Cheatle resigned from her position as the director of the Secret Service on July 23, 2024.
