Trump Picks Sean Curran to Lead the Secret Service

President Trump has picked Sean Curran, who led Mr. Trump’s personal security detail during the campaign and rushed to shield him during an assassination attempt, to be the next Secret Service director.

“Sean is a Great Patriot, who has protected my family over the past few years, and that is why I trust him to lead the Brave Men and Women of the United States Secret Service,” Mr. Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media platform, invoking the attempt on his life at a rally in July. “He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania.”

Mr. Curran is from the New York City area and started his career as a special agent in the agency’s Newark field office. He later worked in the dignitary-protection division and on President Barack Obama’s detail, said Jonathan Wackrow, a former agent who worked for years with Mr. Curran.

Mr. Curran is an unusual pick for Secret Service director, a position that does not require Senate confirmation. As a current agent who does not work at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, he is leapfrogging many positions to become director.

Although he lacks the managerial experience that past directors had when they rose to the post, Mr. Curran has a strong reputation as an agent, according to those who have worked with him.

“While this is not traditional, there is nothing about this incoming administration that is traditional,” said Mr. Wackrow, describing Mr. Curran as a trusted, detail-oriented agent with an intimate understanding of the agency and a sharp sense of humor. “He is very well-liked. He’s affable.”

Former agents said the selection was not surprising, given the familiarity that Mr. Curran has built with Mr. Trump, who prioritizes loyalty. “Trump obviously trusts him,” said William Gage, a special agent who left the agency in 2013.

Mr. Curran will take the helm of an agency that has been the focus of several investigations since the assassination attempt in July, when a 20-year-old gunman managed to scale a warehouse rooftop and gain an unobstructed view of Mr. Trump before opening fire, grazing Mr. Trump’s ear. Two other people were wounded and one man died.

Multiple inquiries found that the Secret Service did not place a single person in charge of coordinating security at the Butler rally. Investigators also said that many of the agents were complacent and not specific when giving instructions to local law enforcement helping secure the event.

Mr. Curran has escaped blame for the failures that led to the July 13 assassination attempt. The agency’s acting director, Ronald L. Rowe, placed several agents on restricted duty. Nearly all worked out of the agency’s Pittsburgh office.

As the agency has faced increased scrutiny, there have been repeated calls for an overhaul of its leadership, which has struggled to deal with high levels of attrition in recent years.

Donald Mihalek, a former Secret Service agent who worked with Mr. Curran on various assignments, said that he viewed Mr. Curran as capable and professional, but that he would be taking charge of an agency that had grown “smaller and leaner” in recent years.

“I hope he has the political and the congressional backing to do what he’s got to do to get the agency on a better footing,” Mr. Mihalek said.

Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting.