Kimberly Cheatle

Kimberly A. Cheatle (born August 15, 1972) is an American law enforcement officer is the 27th director of the United States Secret Service since September 2022. She previously held multiple roles in the United States Secret Service for over 25 years.

Career
Cheatle joined the United States Secret Service in 1995. She was involved in the evacuation of Vice President Dick Cheney on the September 11 attacks, and served on Joe Biden's protective detail during the Obama administration, when she was assigned to the Vice Presidential Protective Division. In 2017 and 2018, she served as deputy assistant director. She also served as special-agent-in-charge in the Grand Rapids, Michigan office. She became the first woman to serve as assistant director of Protective Operations, a department tasked with protection of the president and dignitaries, and managed a budget of over $133.5 million.

From 2019 to 2022, Cheatle served as senior director of global security at PepsiCo, where she was responsible for directing and implementing security protocols for the company's facilities in North America. Her role involves developing risk management assessment and risk mitigation.

In 2021, U.S. president Joe Biden awarded Cheatle a Presidential Rank Award for exceptional performance. In August 2022, Biden announced the appointment of Cheatle to be director of the United States Secret Service, and she assumed office on September 17, 2022. Cheatle took over the Secret Service following "a turbulent couple months in which the agency best known for protecting presidents has faced controversies related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol."

Cheatle told CBS News the agency needed to "attract diverse candidates and give opportunities to everybody in the workforce, particularly women," and by 2030, 30% of the agents would be female. In April 2024, after a female agent on the Vice President's detail attacked her superior officer and other agents, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer requested a briefing with Cheatle to address issues regarding hiring, training and disciplinary processes. The Secret Service downplayed reports of a petition circulating within the agency alleging security vulnerabilities arising from these processes. Cheatle's previous statements regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion became a frequent target for criticism by conservative commentators after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The Secret Service called criticism of female agents "misogynistic" and reaffirmed its belief that diversity in recruiting was "helping, not hurting, the effectiveness of its protective teams."

Attempted assassination of Donald Trump
On July 13, 2024, during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Cheatle was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the 2024 Republican National Convention was to be held in 2 days. In the wake of the shooting and criticism of her leadership, Cheatle acknowledged the failure of the Secret Service, calling it "unacceptable". However, Cheatle told ABC News that she would not resign from her position, and defended herself by saying that local law enforcement was responsible for the building the shooter was on.

On July 20, 2024, Democratic representative Brendan Boyle called on Cheatle to resign in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, making him the first Congressional Democrat to do so. Earlier, House Speaker Republican Mike Johnson called on Cheatle to resign and Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell called for new leadership at the agency on the same day.