"President Trump will be naming Sean Curran, who heads his personal detail, to be Secret Service Director. Sean is a great patriot and will stop all the insanity once and for all. There's not a better person to be in this position!" Recently, Trump's Son Donald Jr. posted on social platform X.

This was quickly confirmed.

Trump announced on Wednesday that he has chosen Sean Curran to be the next director of the U.S. Secret Service. He described Sean on social media as "a great patriot who has protected my family over the past few years, which is why I believe he will serve well as a leader for the brave men and women of the United States Secret Service."

Sean Curran's name is not well-known, but his face is remembered by many people-when Trump was assassinated in Pennsylvania in July 2024, Sean and Trump were "in the same frame". When the shooting occurred, Sean formed a human wall with other agents and escorted Trump from the scene.

After Trump's assassination in Pennsylvania, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was forced to resign, and former Deputy Director Ronald L. Rowe remains the acting director.

Compared to his predecessors with impressive resumes, Sean has gone from managing Trump's 85 person private security team to running the complex Secret Service, bypassing the traditional promotion path required for past directors and achieving a "rocket like" promotion.

Most analysts believe that the biggest reason for Sean's meteoric rise is undoubtedly his "loyalty and courage" to Trump.

01 A Loyal and Gallant "One of Us"

Sean and Trump have maintained a close relationship over the past few years, and the two have a good personal relationship. During the four years of Biden's administration, Sean has provided Trump with personal protection.

On July 13th, 2024, a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, fell into chaos due to a gunshot, and Trump's life was threatened as never before. At this critical moment, Sean rushed forward with lightning speed and became Trump's "human shield."

With more than 20 years of Secret Service experience, Sean quickly determined the source of the threat and took action to shield Trump from the gunman's sight and assist him in evacuating to a safe area.

Afterwards, a photo of Sean and Trump in the same frame spread all over the world. Since then, he has won Trump's trust and become an important figure in his inner circle.

It also became a turning point in Sean's career - it was essential for Trump to have someone who showed courage under pressure.

"He demonstrated his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help me and save me from an assassin's bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania," Trump said publicly when he appointed Sean.

Just two months after the Pennsylvania assassination, Trump was assassinated again in Florida, but was not injured.

This time, Sean also contributed a lot. He learned the lesson from the last assassination incident and went to clear the area near the sixth hole of the golf course in advance - which was Trump's only route when playing golf. As a result, he found a dark gun barrel sticking out of the bushes.

The gun was less than 450 meters away from Trump. Sean immediately directed several Secret Service agents to fire at the target until the gunman abandoned the gun and ran away.

In October 2024, Sean appeared at a Trump campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

On this day, Trump was preparing to give a speech for the 2024 election, and the venue was packed with supporters. Sean stood on the back right side of Trump with a serious look on his face, always paying attention to every change on and off the court.

On January 9th, 2025, Trump attended the funeral of former US President Jimmy Carter. Sean sat behind Trump, adjusting his sitting posture from time to time to ensure that Trump went well during the funeral.

It is worth mentioning that due to Trump's huge influence in American politics, Sean has been constantly working hard to obtain more security resources for Trump, which is far beyond the "job duties" of ordinary security directors.

Before Trump was assassinated, he had repeatedly proposed to the Secret Service to provide more security forces and improve protective measures for Trump at rallies, but they were all rejected by the authorities.

02 The "Veteran" Security Chief

As an elite who has been strictly selected and trained by the Secret Service, Sean is tall and strong, with a neat short haircut. Not only does he have excellent physical fitness, he is also very insightful, but most of the time his face is expressionless, his brows furrowed, and he looks at the surroundings with serious and cold eyes.

In 2024, the U.S. Secret Service is facing an unprecedented large-scale turnover of agents, making the Secret Service deeply worried about its future security work. And Sean is undoubtedly a "veteran" - he joined the Secret Service in September 2001 and has more than 20 years of field experience. He has also been sent to work in Moscow, which can be described as "battle-hardened".

Sean is a New Yorker. His first job was as an agent for the U.S. Secret Service in the Newark, New Jersey field office, but he was quickly transferred to work in the relatively core protection department for dignitaries. In addition to Trump, he is also responsible for the security of former US President Obama.

In public, Sean always wears a dark suit with a white shirt, a blue tie, cool sunglasses and a professional communication headset. In the eyes of his colleagues, he is down-to-earth, dedicated, unknown, and has almost no negative comments.

Varok, a former U.S. Secret Service agent who worked with him for many years, said Sean was a trustworthy, detail-oriented agent with an in-depth knowledge of the U.S. Secret Service. “He was affable and well-liked and had a keen sense of humor.”

Former Secret Service agent Donald Michalek, who has performed various missions with Sean, believes that Sean has outstanding abilities and strong professionalism.

As the leader of the entire security team responsible for Trump's security, Sean has approximately 85 agents under his command. However, Sean has never held a position at Secret Service headquarters or been involved in high-level administrative services such as budgeting or operations for the Secret Service.

Judging only from his resume and position level, he is not as "brilliant" as the previous director. Because of this, there is almost no public personal information about Sean. He himself has always been low-key and restrained, and never made a presence online, but some people still paid attention to him early.

In 2021, some netizens have become his fans and posted photos of him in suits and ties on social media. Many netizens speculated from his upright posture and resolute demeanor that he should be a soldier.

"According to the Secret Service's entry practices, Sean must have gone through a series of physical, legal, and life-saving training, but there is no such special training school in the United States. Therefore, these Secret Service staff mainly come from the police, firefighting or military system, or some special rescue departments," said Cheng Shaoming, director of Tahota Law Firm in Washington.

Cheng also specifically mentioned the background checks of Secret Service agents. "As we all know, the background checks of Secret Service agents are extremely strict, and foreigners have no chance at all. Generally speaking, the cleaner the background, the higher the level of the person being protected. From this perspective, Sean must be a native of the United States with a clean family background."

03 Behind the “Rocketing promotion”

The United States Secret Service was established in 1865 and is headquartered in Washington, DC. It was mainly established to combat counterfeit currency.

In the beginning, the Secret Service was the right-hand assistant of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, responsible for catching criminals who counterfeit currency. But over time, the Secret Service's responsibilities expanded. Especially after President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Congress formally required the Secret Service to be responsible for the president's security. Since then, the Secret Service has added the identity of "Presidential Bodyguard".

After the "9/11" incident in 2001, the U.S. government established the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secret Service was transferred to this new department.

According to public data, the Secret Service has approximately 8,400 employees, including more than 3,600 agents and more than 1,600 uniformed police officers. They are not only responsible for protecting 36 U.S. dignitaries, including the president, vice president, president-elect and vice president-elect, former presidents and their spouses, but also important national facilities.

As the head of an agency tasked with protecting dignitaries, the director of the U.S. Secret Service usually has extensive management experience and has been promoted through the ranks of the agency.

However, unlike White House cabinet officials, the appointment of the Secret Service Director falls within the executive authority of the president and does not require confirmation by the Senate. It can be said that promoting Sean is a matter of "one word" from Trump.

Some commentators said that Sean's promotion is the epitome of Trump's "loyalty first" employment standards. Donald Jr.’s statement when announcing the appointment on social media also hinted that Trump has always adhered to this point in employment decisions.

"Times of India" stated that Sean has won Trump's full trust and can be regarded as "one of us" in his core circle. For Trump, personal recognition is much stronger than those "officially certified" resumes and credentials, and it is also an important consideration for him in promoting his subordinates.

CNN reported that Sean lacked the necessary administrative abilities and that his work experience could not make up for the complex management and financial issues of the Secret Service. As an "airborne" leader, Sean will face a series of issues such as how to repair the organization's internal structure and restore public trust. Even with his experience in security and safety, whether he can handle the management challenges of such a large organization is an open question.

In 2024, two security breaches caused the Secret Service to face doubts and tremendous pressure from the outside. The Secret Service's leadership was constantly changing, and morale within the organization was low. An independent panel at the Department of Homeland Security says the agency needs an overhaul and criticizes its culture of "doing more with less." Outgoing acting chief Ronald Lowe has initiated modernization reforms, but it remains uncertain whether Sean will continue those initiatives.

Michalek believes Sean will be in charge of a "smaller, leaner" agency. "I hope he can get the political and congressional support to do what he has to do to put the Secret Service in a better position."

Some media reported that Sean, who is inexperienced, may have to face difficult challenges such as "internal system reform" and "gaining public trust" as soon as he takes office. The Secret Service needs modernization and reform, not just "loyalty".