Secret Service problems run deep, Ayotte says

A Senate Republican said Sunday that the Secret Service needs an independent review similar to the examination of problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said problems run deep within the agency, which is tasked with protecting President Obama and other top officials.

“I think this needs a fresh view like the VA, and an independent review,” Ayotte said on “Fox News Sunday.”

{mosads}Ayotte said the agency clearly has a leadership problem and “it goes beyond the head of the agency, it goes to the culture of the agency, the command structure, and if you look at these incidences there seems to be a training issue,” she said.

She said the Senate committee should look closely at whether the Secret Service belongs under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.

“Clearly, they have to defend the president in a context of the threats we face around the world,” she said. “That is what is so troubling about what happened here because this is obviously a scenario of a fence-jumping — what about a more sophisticated scenario?”

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said last week that the Secret Service fits under the overall mission of his agency and that it makes sense to keep it there.

Secret Service Director Julie Pierson resigned Wednesday after several security breaches surrounding the president, including an armed fence-jumper who made it into the White House before being tackled by an off-duty Secret Service agent.

Pierson had held the job for only a year.