US Secret Service Director James Murray will leave the agency at the end of this month for a job with the social media giant Snapchat.
The Secret Service announced in a statement on Thursday that Murray would retire on July 30, adding that he “helped the agency navigate the unique challenges presented by the historic COVID-19 pandemic” while continuing to perform “its integrated mission of providing protection to senior elected leaders and investigating crimes targeting our financial infrastructure.”
Murray, who had been at the helm of the US Secret Service since May 2019, will become Snapchat’s new chief security officer and report directly to the company’s chief executive and co-founder Evan Spiegel, according to the New York Post.
President Joe Biden and his spouse, for their part, stated that Murray “embodies the meaning of service over self, and protected the families of US Presidents like they were part of his own.”
“We are incredibly grateful for his service to our country and our family,” the Bidens said.
In the final months of Murray’s tenure, the Secret Service was embroiled in several controversies, including a row in May, when two agency employees were sent home from South Korea after drunkenly tussling with a cab driver.
The service also faced questions after it was revealed in April that taxpayers were spending more than $30,000 a month to rent an estate in Malibu for agents protecting Biden’s son Hunter.
On top of that, the agency has been in the spotlight in recent weeks over the events on January 6, 2021, when a mob, including dozens of former President Donald Trump’s supporters, breached the Capitol to halt the certification of Biden’s electoral victory.
On that day, the 45th US president was purportedly eager to quickly arrive at the White House, snapped at one of the Secret Service agents and tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential SUV, allegations Trump vehemently denies.