Director James M. Murray has announced his retirement from the Secret Service after 32 years of dedicated service to our nation, 27 of which were with the Secret Service. Director Murray has served as the agency’s chief executive since May 1, 2019. As Director, Murray contributed significantly to the agency’s continued professionalization and growth, and helped the agency navigate the unique challenges presented by the historic COVID-19 pandemic, throughout which the agency continued executing its integrated mission of providing protection to senior elected leaders and investigating crimes targeting our financial infrastructure. Since the Spring of 2019, Director Murray successfully guided the agency through eight National Special Security Events and nearly 20,000 international and domestic protective operations. During that time, the agency also recovered approximately $4.2B in fraud loss and prevented an estimated $8.1B in additional losses at the hands of criminal enterprise.
Director Murray, a native of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, began his federal service in 1990 as an investigator with the United States Department of Transportation, while concurrently serving as an Officer in the United States Army Reserve. In 1995, he joined the United States Secret Service as a special agent in the New York Field Office where he investigated cyber-enabled financial crimes and served as the agency’s liaison to the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force. His subsequent career assignments include assistant to the special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division; resident agent in charge of the Atlantic City, NJ Resident Office; special agent in charge of the agency’s James J. Rowley Training Center; and special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office.
From 2016 to 2018, he served as deputy assistant director of Protective Operations, where he coordinated agency efforts for the presidential campaigns ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and presidential transition. In April 2018, Murray became the assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations and was responsible for the planning, coordination and administration of the agency’s global protective mission. On April 8, 2019, he was named 26th director of the United States Secret Service.
Director James Murray will transition from federal service July 30, 2022.
“James Murray has been an exceptional Director of the United States Secret Service. He has led with unflinching integrity, tireless dedication to mission, and unwavering devotion to the well-being of his superb workforce. Under Director Murray’s leadership, the Secret Service has reinforced its stature as the preeminent protective agency in the world and has increased in sophistication and scope its investigative capabilities to meet an increasingly dynamic threat landscape,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “I have benefited tremendously from the opportunity to rely on Director Murray as a trusted advisor and highly regarded leader in the Department of Homeland Security. I am grateful for his counsel, judgment, and steady hand through a myriad of challenges we have faced.”
“Director Murray’s leadership of the Secret Service is the capstone of a remarkable career of more than thirty years of service to our country – with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the United States Army Reserves, and for 27 years with the United States Secret Service,” he said. “I congratulate and thank Director Murray for his distinguished service to our nation, and I wish him the very best in this next stage of his remarkable career.”
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