Obama hails Secret Service for ‘unprecedented’ performance
US President Barack Obama has hailed the Secret Service for providing security in an “unprecedented fashion” during a busy last week.
The week included visits by hundreds of world leaders who gathered in New York for the UN General assembly, which followed visits by Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping to the US.
After touching down on Marine One on the White House South Lawn, the president paused for a word of praise to the federal protective agency, which he said worked “flawlessly” during the week.
The concurrence Pope Francis’s first visit in the US history along with Xi’s, another first, as well as some 150 delegations from around the globe made the agency put up tight security measures that worked “flawlessly” and brought about Obama’s "special commendation."
The Secret Service has faced public embarrassments over several breaches of professional duty and sexual scandals by its staff.
“When something goes wrong, when there’s a fence jumper, everybody reports on it," said the president. "The Secret Service had to manage the Pope’s visit, President Xi’s visit, and a hundred something world leaders in an unprecedented fashion during the course of the last several days. And they did so flawlessly."
“And Joe Clancy, the head of the Secret Service, and the entire team and detail and professional services, they all deserve a huge round of applause for being such great hosts and keeping everybody safe," Obama said. "So I just wanted to make sure everybody heard that."
Obama has been backing the Secret Service despite its failures. After a prostitution scandal, while he was was on a trip to partake in a summit in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2012, Obama just referred to a "couple of knuckleheads" in the agency behind the matter.
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