Man with Philly ties heading Secret Service

WASHINGTON (WPVI) -- A man with Philadelphia ties has been chosen to take the lead at the Secret Service.

Joe Clancy is now the interim director of the agency after Wednesday's resignation of Julia Pierson.

Clancy is a Villanova graduate who most recently worked as the head of Comcast security, but is also a retired Secret Service agent who was in charge of President Obama's security detail from 2009 to 2011.

"He is somebody who has earned the respect and admiration of the men and women who are his colleagues at the United States Secret Service. He is also somebody who has the full confidence of the president, and the first lady," said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

Clancy spent 1984 teaching history at Father Judge High School in Northeast Philadelphia while waiting for his Secret Service application to be processed.

The Secret Service has been reeling since a September 19th security breach at the White House.

That's when Omar Gonzalez jumped over the fence and made his way deep inside the executive mansion.

Rumblings were growing louder on Capitol Hill for Pierson's resignation, but it may have been a second security incident that tipped the scales against her.

This week, news emerged that a security contractor with a criminal record - and who was carrying a gun - was able to stand next to President Obama in an elevator at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The White House did not learn about the breach until three weeks later.

"The White House first learned of that incident yesterday afternoon, shortly before it was publicly reported by a news organization," Earnest said.