by Jenn Carter
Heads are reeling in Washington, as President Trump has axed yet another top Executive security official.
Secret Service Director Randolph Alles is leaving his position, according to several reports on Monday.
The move comes after a series of leadership changes in the security branch of the Trump administration, including the resignation of Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and the decision to withdraw Ronald Vitiello as his nominee for director of ICE to, as Trump put it, “go in a tougher direction” on the border.
And Trump may not be done with his shake-up at the top, removing career officials and Obama holdovers, and replacing them with fresh-faced people he can trust.
President Donald Trump instructed his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to fire Alles. Alles remains in his position as of now but has been asked to leave.
The Secret Service director reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, who resigned on Sunday amid growing pressure from the President. The director oversees the Secret Service’s work on both protection and investigations.
“There is a near-systematic purge happening at the nation’s second-largest national security agency,” one senior administration official says.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services director Francis Cissna and Office of the General Counsel’s John Mitnick are expected to be gone soon, and the White House is eyeing others to be removed.
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The decision to force out Alles comes just days after a woman was arrested at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club with Chinese passports and computer and cell phone malware after she made it past a checkpoint.
The incident was deeply disturbing to many career Secret Service agents.
The wealthy Chinese woman had her visa revoked by a U.S. magistrate during a hearing Monday.
The move could keep Yujing Zhang in U.S. government custody even if she is granted bond.
Zhang, 32, is being held on charges of lying to a federal agent and entering a restricted building. If convicted, Zhang faces a maximum 5-year prison sentence.
