There’s an immense amount of pressure on Kimberly Cheatle to resign her position at the Secret Service. Maybe it’s an incarcerated perspective that informs me, but the moment Chief Cheeto got clipped in the ear, she knew, 100%, what the outcome would be in relation to her career.
After an expected, and emotionally overwrought, hearing, Cheatle resigned her post. This action was a foregone conclusion, but what I appreciate the most is her loyalty to the Secret Service and her stalwart refusal to play the blame game so popular amongst our “leadership.”
Were there failures? Absolutely. Was it one single person’s fault? No. Instead of looking for a solution, Congress practiced its default and wasted all of our time and tax dollars bitching and moaning about a past event that’s already been examined in nanoscopic detail to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
What’s funny, and likely won’t endear anyone from either side of the issue is this: By taking the heat and accepting responsibility for the actions of not just herself, but the entirety of her now former agency, she was practicing what we incarcerated folk refer to as “Ridin’ The Beef.”
It's the sacrifice play. Get the runner home. Take one for the team. It’s done to protect others from being unduly punished and wrap up the scenario as quickly and efficiently as possible so things can return to a functional operating status, free of all the noise.
The ability to sit in the chamber and be railed at by multiple people in authority is an admirable one. Cheatle deflected, dodged, and made it quite clear that the buck stops with her. And she proved it.
No blame game here, thank you very much.
I don’t believe forcing Cheatle out was the right thing; we’re losing an incredibly talented asset and, by doing so, weakening our security. But when was the last time Congress did anything other than hold a hearing to yell at each other, or some loyal serviceperson?
We need to do better and remember what it is people like Cheatle do for our country and how massive the challenges they face truly are. I’d love to see anyone else try to anticipate each and every variable, in real-time, from the director’s chair. No system is perfect; none of us are omniscient. I say, "Thank you for your service, Ms. Cheatle," and so should the whole comb-over crusader crowd because ultimately it’s you who kept him alive.