White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will leave her post next month, according to the White House, months after she drew criticism for a major security breach at a state dinner in November.The leading candidate to replace Rogers is Julianna Smoot, currently chief of staff for U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the financial director for President Barack Obama's campaign, according to a senior administration official.
Rogers, who plans to return to the corporate world, became one of the administration's most high-profile staffers. A friend of both Obamas dating back to Chicago, she appeared in the pages of Vogue, on the cover of the Wall Street Journal magazine and was in the front row during last year's New York Fashion Week.
But it was a blast of unwelcome publicity -- the gate-crashers at Obama's first state dinner -- that put Rogers into the national spotlight. After Tareq and Michaele Salahi got into the dinner and shook hands with the president, all apparently without an invitation, Rogers's handling of security for the event came under fire.
Rogers was criticized for failing to post someone from the East Wing at a security checkpoint. The White House defended her, placing full blame on the Secret Service, yet a subsequent investigation led to procedural changes.
When asked if she was hit hard by the resignation, longtime friend and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told POLITICO in an e-mail: "No, it didn't hit me hard. Desiree never intended to stay more than about a year."
"She has made a tremendous contribution, and I completely respect her decision to return to the private sector," Jarrett added.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted the White House in December for declining to have Rogers testify in the congressional probe into the state dinner security breach. King, asked if he will now call Rogers to testify, told POLITICO through his spokesman: "No further comment on Desiree Rogers; I wish her well."
