She Leads Secret Service

 A WOMAN WILL LEAD THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE INTO THE FUTURE.

 “The Secret Service is mandated by Congress to carry out dual missions: protection and criminal investigations.”
……..secretservice.gov

There’s a new marshal in town that is widely respected, somewhat feared, highly credentialed…….and wears makeup.

It’s been reported in a White House press release; President Obama appointed Ms. Julia Pierson to direct the Secret Service. Ms. Pierson will be the first woman to lead the Secret Service in United States history.

President Obama in a statement, described Pierson, “Julia is eminently qualified to lead the agency that not only safeguards Americans at major events and secures our financial system, but also protects our leaders and our first families, including my own. Julia has had an exemplary career, and I know these experiences will guide her as she takes on this new challenge to lead the impressive men and women of this important agency.”

Abcnews.go.com adds, “I have to say that Julia’s reputation within the service is extraordinary,” Obama told reporters. “She’s come up through the ranks; she’s done just about every job there is to do at the Secret Service.”

Mr. Obama said Pierson is “breaking the mold” by becoming the first woman to lead the male-dominated agency. “I think that people are all extraordinarily proud of her, and we have the greatest confidence in the wonderful task that lies ahead and great confidence she’s going to do a great job,” he said.

Ms. Pierson previously served as the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chief for the United States Secret Service. She has been a Secret Service agent for over 30 years after beginning her career in Florida.

A further investigation of Ms. Pierson’s background reveals she is uniquely qualified for this very important position. Let’s start with her youth.

Wikipedia shares Ms. Pierson is a native of Orlando, Florida. While she attended high school, she worked at Walt Disney World as a parking lot attendant, watercraft attendant, and in costume in Disney parades.

Living in Orlando Florida can be an extremely enjoyable experience. Orlando is nicknamed “The City Beautiful” and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola. Orlando is also known as “The Theme Park Capital of the World” and its tourist attractions draw more than 51 million tourists a year, including 3.6 million international guests. The Orlando International Airport (MCO) is the thirteenth busiest airport in the United States and the 29th busiest in the world. Buddy Dyer is Orlando’s mayor.

As the most visited American city in 2009, Orlando’s famous attractions form the backbone of its tourism industry: Walt Disney World Resort, located approximately 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Downtown Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, opened by the Walt Disney Company in 1971; the Universal Orlando Resort, which consists of the two parks of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure; City Walk; SeaWorld; Gatorland; and Wet ‘n Wild Water Park. With the exception of Walt Disney World, most major attractions are located along International Drive. The city is also one of the busiest American cities for conferences and conventions.

Like other major cities in the Sun Belt, Orlando grew rapidly during the 1980s and into the first decade of the 21st century. Orlando is home to the University of Central Florida, which is the second-largest university campus in the United States in terms of enrollment as of 2012.

The cityoforlando.net comments; the City of Orlando consistently ranks as one of the best places in the nation to launch and operate a business. Recently, Entrepreneur Magazine touted Orlando as being “one of the most highly coordinated entrepreneurial engines in the country” crediting the success to our region’s public and private sector’s ability to cooperate and collaborate.

There is much more to Ms. Pierson’s resume.

DHS.GOV provides us with more details. Earlier in her career, Ms. Pierson served as the Assistant Director of the Office of Human Resources and Training (HRT). In that position, Ms. Pierson was responsible for overseeing all human resource and training programs for the Secret Service. Ms. Pierson oversaw organizational policy development and strategic management of the agency’s Workforce Planning Programs, Personnel Division, Security Clearance Division and the James J. Rowley Training Center basic and operational training programs.

Ms. Pierson also served as Deputy Assistant Director in the Office of Protective Operations, where she was responsible for daily security operations, workforce readiness and strategic planning to support the Presidential and Vice Presidential Protective Divisions, Dignitary Protective Division, as well as National Special Security Events and Presidential Campaign activities. Beyond her operational experience, Ms. Pierson served as the Deputy Assistant Director in the Office of Administration, where she oversaw the agency’s budget and all administrative operations including strategic planning, budgeting, finance, procurement, and property management activities.

Ms. Pierson served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the Tampa Field Office and was responsible for directing Secret Service investigative and protective activities in western Florida. Ms. Pierson established an Electronic Crimes Task Force to investigate cyber crimes in the Tampa Bay area.

Ms. Pierson was an Explorer in the Boy Scouts of America, in a post specializing in law enforcement chartered to the Orlando Police Department. She was the 1978 National Law Enforcement Exploring Youth Representative, leading the Law Enforcement Exploring division, and was selected as the National Law Enforcement Exploring chair.

She attended the University of Central Florida, graduating in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

Do you know what the difference is in the responsibilities of the Secret Service from that of the FBI? Sometimes there is confusion regarding their primary tasks.

The many responsibilities of the FBI include protecting the United States from terrorism, counterintelligence, cyber crime, public corruption, violation of civil rights, organized crime, white-collar crime, violent crime and major theft explains the FBI’s website.

The Secret Service has broad but different responsibilities.

According to secretservice.gov the United States Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency with headquarters in Washington, D.C., and more than 150 offices throughout the United States and abroad. The Secret Service was established in 1865, solely to suppress the counterfeiting of U.S. currency – a serious problem at the time. In fact, following the Civil War, it was estimated that one-third to one-half of the currency in circulation was counterfeit.

Today, the agency is mandated by Congress to carry out dual missions: protection of national and visiting foreign leaders, and criminal investigations.

The mission of the United States Secret Service is to safeguard the nation’s financial infrastructure and payment systems to preserve the integrity of the economy, and to protect national leaders, visiting heads of state and government, designated sites and National Special Security Events. As part of the 1994 Crime Bill, Congress mandated the U.S. Secret Service to provide forensic/technical assistance in matters involving missing and exploited children. The Secret Service offers this assistance to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. On April 30, 2003, President George W. Bush signed the PROTECT Act of 2003, known as the “Amber Alert Bill”, which gave full authorization to the U.S. Secret Service in this area.

Female Competition International would like to congratulate Ms. Julia Pierson on her important assignment, her great career accomplishments and wish her success in her new responsibilities.

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Sources: Photo Homeland Security website, feminist.org/blog, Wikipedia, dhs.gov, abcnews.go.com, nytimes.com, whitehouse.gov, cityoforlando.net, Wikipedia Orlando, secretservice.gov, usatoday.com, photos courtesy Wikimedia commons.