Top Gun Pilot as Secret Service Director
A retired Marine Corps two-star general will be the next director of the United States Secret Service, the White House announced Tuesday.
President Donald Trump picked retired major general and current acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Randolph “Tex” Alles for the post, adding another prominent Marine veteran to an administration rapidly filling with them.
Alles served in the Marine Corps for 35 years as a naval aviator, serving as an instructor at the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School — better known as Top Gun — over the course of his career.
According to an official biography, he earned his wings in 1976 and went on to fly five different fighter airframes during his service: the F-4 Phantom II, the Northrop F-5, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the F/A-18 Hornet and the A-4 Skyhawk. In these aircraft, he amassed more than 5,000 flight hours, 300 of them in combat, according to the biography.
His positions of leadership within the Corps included command of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) and of Al Asad Air Base in Iraq; commanding general of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and vice chief of Naval Research; and director for Strategic Planning and Policy at U.S. Pacific Command, among others.
Alles’ military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal with Oak Leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” device and Gold Star, the Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, the Air Medal with strike/flight numeral 3, and the Navy Commendation Medal with Gold Star, according to his official biography.
He was recommended to lead the Secret Service by John F. Kelly, secretary of Homeland Security and a retired Marine four-star general who served as his contemporary, The New York Times reported.