Trump official names former Secret Service head to top DHS post

by Jesse Byrnes - 05/03/19 7:50 PM ET

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan has named Randolph “Tex” Alles, the former head of the Secret Service, to a top Homeland Security post.

McAleenan announced Friday that Alles, who stepped down as Secret Service director this week, will take over as acting Deputy Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In his role, Alles “will oversee all aspects of the Department’s management programs, including financial, human capital, information technology, procurement, security, and asset management,” according to the DHS statement.{mosads}

The post has been held by Chip Fulghum, who stepped up to fill the position following the departure of Claire Grady. Grady, who served as DHS’s acting deputy secretary, resigned last month amid a shakeup at the department.

“Mr. Fulghum has served the men and women of DHS with distinction since first joining in 2012, and we are forever grateful for his service. I wish him the very best in the years ahead,” McAleenan said in the statement Friday.

DHS is tasked with implementing President Trump’s immigration agenda and has seen a reorganization of its senior leadership in recent weeks, punctuated by the departure of former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

The White House announced last month that Alles was being replaced as Secret Service director by James Murray, the former deputy assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations.

Alles departed the agency amid reports that his relationship with Trump had soured for months. Trump reportedly made fun of the Secret Service director’s appearance, calling him “Dumbo” because of his ears.

Secret Service staff told The New York Times last month that they believed Ailes’s departure was expedited after the arrest of a Chinese woman who was allowed to enter Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida despite carrying a device containing malware.

Alles denied in a letter to Secret Service staff that he was fired.

“United States Secret Service director Randolph ‘Tex’ Alles has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the President is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement last month.

Tal Axelrod contributed.

Tags Donald Trump Kirstjen Nielsen Sarah Huckabee