SECRET SERVICE CHIEF BAILS

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, a 30-year veteran of the agency, will retire on Feb. 22, according to spokesman Brian Leary.

Sullivan has overseen protection of national leaders and visiting foreign dignitaries since 2006, when he was promoted from his position as an assistant director with the agency.

Sullivan, who began his Secret Service career as a special agent in the Detroit field office, will retire as the third- longest-serving head of the agency, Leary said today.

“Mark Sullivan epitomizes the term ‘public service,’ and has devoted his life to the safety of our First Families, our nation’s leaders, and the public at large,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for his contributions.”

The Secret Service, part of the Homeland Security Department, has a dual role as the chief protective service for the U.S. president and policing the nation’s financial infrastructure. The agency was hit by a scandal last year....REST OF IT