Secrecy at USSS: Ex-director who oversaw Butler rally almost got security clearance back — and Curran likely knew

Sean Curran, the director of the Secret Service, who was on duty during the deadly assassination attempt in Butler a year ago, almost certainly knew that his agency was planning to restore former Director Kimberly Cheatle’s security clearance when it abruptly reversed course, Blaze News has learned.

On Friday, Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics revealed that the USSS had quietly begun the process of restoring Cheatle’s security clearance. However, when RCP contacted the agency and revealed that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) vehemently opposed the restoration, the agency suddenly decided that Cheatle’s security clearance would not be renewed.

Johnson spokeswoman Avery Selby told RCP that the senator’s office learned that her security clearance would not be renewed on the same day that RCP contacted the USSS about Johnson’s concerns.

Sources told Crabtree that there is no way that Curran did not know about the pending restoration of Cheatle’s security clearance.

Johnson seems grateful for the about-face. “Following the security debacle in Butler, the former director of USSS made the right decision to resign,” he said in a statement, according to RCP. “I see no reason for her security clearance to be reinstated.”

Cheatle, who was at the helm at the time of the Butler shooting, resigned in disgrace less than two weeks later after a disastrous appearance before the House Oversight Committee, where she refused to answer certain questions and even infamously blamed a major security breach on a sloped roof.

RELATED: Secret Service director resigns in disgrace 1 day after refusing accountability for worst agency failure in 4 decades

  Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Blaze News has since learned that current Director Curran, one of the Secret Service agents who bravely whisked Trump off the stage to safety that fateful day, most likely knew that a restoration of his predecessor’s security clearance was in the works.

Sources told Crabtree that there is no way that Curran did not know about the pending restoration of Cheatle’s security clearance, Crabtree told Blaze News.

“Renewing Cheatle’s security clearance provides no benefit to U.S. national security of the American taxpayers but would help her land another lucrative security job at a Fortune 500 company or elsewhere,” Crabtree told Blaze News.

“It’s not a good look for Sean Curran, to say the least. If Sean Curran knew that her security clearance was up for renewal and was allowing it — it would be news and concerning if he didn’t know — than it shows he was willing to continue the status quo during a period that requires significant agency reform to continue to safeguard President Trump’s life and our continuity of government.”

Blaze News reached out to the USSS for clarification on what Director Curran knew and when, but received only the same statement given to RCP that makes no direct mention of Cheatle.

The U.S. Secret Service sponsors security clearances for all the former directors for their knowledge of operational and national security matters. The purpose for this was so the agency could maintain formal and protected communication including potentially sensitive and classified matters with former officials. Since appointed, Director Curran has been building a dynamic team of knowledgeable advisers that will help implement his vision for the agency. Additionally, Director Curran has been modernizing the intelligence apparatus within the agency. During that process, he has determined that not all former directors will have their clearances renewed.

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