Obama's New Secret Service Chief Is His Old Guard

The White House says President Obama has chosen Secret Service Acting Director Joe Clancy to fill the position permanently. Clancy was appointed on an interim basis in a hurry last year after then-Director Julia Pierson was forced out of the agency after two embarrassing security breaches. An independent panel tasked with reviewing the agency and making recommendations for improvements concluded earlier this year that the agency was too "insular" and "starving for leadership." It also recommended hiring an agency outsider as the next director. Obama blatantly disregarded that recommendation, notes CNN; Clancy is the former head of his own detail and often protected former President George W. Bush as well. Last month, four of the agency's highest-ranking officials were reassigned in response to the mishaps. (More Secret Service stories.)