Two top former Secret Service officials who were transferred out of the agency in department shakeup are still driving Secret Service cars and retain access to the service’s facilities.
Former deputy director Alvin T. Smith and ex-assistant director Mark Copanzzi still have Secret Service credentials and badges, with swipe-card access to the agency’s offices. A government source with knowledge of the situation questioned why they were being allowed to retain such privileges after being transferred to other positions in the Department of Homeland Security by Acting Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy.
Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the “particulars [of their transfers] still have to be worked out.” He said both men will be giving up the use of their Secret Service cars.
“The cars are going-to-work vehicles for Secret Service agents in potential response scenarios, so they obviously won’t have that in their new assignments,” Mr. Donovan said.
Mr. Smith, who left Monday from his job as second-in-command at the Secret Service, is taking a “cyber-related position” at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mr. Donovan said. And he said both men are still welcome at Secret Service headquarters.
“They weren’t fired, and they are career employees,” he said. “It’s not like they are some sort of pariah or something. It’s going to be worked out, but they aren’t barred from our building or banned from our facilities or anything like that.”
Mr. Smith and Mr. Copanzzi are among several agency officials who were transferred after Mr. Clancy decided that the Secret Service needed a “fresh perspective” in the wake of several security breaches, including a fence jumper who made it all the way inside the White House. Those episodes led to the resignation of Director Julia Pierson last October.
Mr. Copanzzi oversaw technology at the agency.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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