(CNN) 鈥� President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick his current Secret Service detail leader, Sean Curran, to be the new director of the United States Secret Service, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision.
For the past four years, Curran has led Trump鈥檚 detail and is known to have a close, personal relationship with the president-elect, sources said.
Several sources, however, also raised significant concerns that Curran lacks the managerial experience to run an agency as large and complex as the Secret Service. On Trump鈥檚 detail, Curran supervised about 85 people. He has never managed the kind of budget or operations of the Secret Service.
Further, multiple sources point out that Curran has never held a position at the agency鈥檚 headquarters and is not a member of the Senior Executive Service, which comprises the highest ranks in the service.
Curran would replace acting Director Ronald Rowe, who had lobbied for the job after Kim Cheatle resigned after the first assassination attempt on Trump鈥檚 life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. In September, another man in Florida set up a 鈥渟niper鈥檚 nest鈥� outside of Trump鈥檚 golf club as part of an apparent second assassination attempt on Trump.
Curran鈥檚 ascent is atypical due to his rank and lack of headquarters experience. Other former agents who later became directors rose through the agency鈥檚 headquarters, such as Mark Sullivan and Jim Murray, and were already members of the Senior Executive Service.
However, Curran鈥檚 rank fails to capture the responsibility of running Trump鈥檚 detail 鈥� even during years when Trump was neither president nor candidate. After leaving office, Trump鈥檚 risk level far outpaced his position as simply 鈥渁 former.鈥�
A source familiar told CNN that Curran was active in pushing for more security resources for Trump, and later rushed to the stage as gun fire erupted around him at the Butler rally. While his heroism in the face of crisis is indisputable, his leadership leading up to the Butler rally has come under scrutiny.
A blue-ribbon panel commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security recommended a leader with outside experience to serve as Secret Service director, and a major overhaul of operations and attitude.
In its report, the panel wrote that it found 鈥渆vidence that Secret Service personnel, including those associated with the protection of former President Trump, viewed themselves as operating under an informal mantra of, effectively, 鈥榙o more with less,鈥� which is inconsistent with achieving excellence or 鈥渘o fail鈥� in the Service鈥檚 protective mission.鈥�
Further, the panel found 鈥渁n insufficiently experienced-based approach by the former president鈥檚 detail regarding its selection of agents to perform certain security critical tasks.鈥�
Curran鈥檚 name has been circulated for weeks as a possible contender for director. Even while other names were floating as replacements, Rowe initiated sweeping changes and personnel moves.
Some of Rowe鈥檚 changes included the creation of an Aviation and Aerospace Division to manage the agency鈥檚 drone and counter-drone strategies, and Operational Communications and Integration Division to direct radio and other communications.
It鈥檚 unclear if Curran will maintain Rowe鈥檚 changes.
As Curran steps into his new role, he will be surrounded by leadership gaps. The assistant director positions for the Office of Protective Operations and Office of Professional Responsibility are vacant.
Other top-level jobs including deputy director and assistant director of field operations have acting 鈥� not permanent 鈥� personnel.
This story has been updated with additional details.
The-CNN-Wire
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