04/07/08

AP Press Release

AP appoints Danny Spriggs to new post of vice president of global security

NEW YORK -- The Associated Press has announced the appointment of Danny Spriggs, the former No. 2 executive in the U.S. Secret Service, as vice president of global security, a newly created position.

"Danny Spriggs brings to AP a wealth of experience in security-related tactical, operational and strategic planning," said AP President and CEO Tom Curley. "AP journalists cover conflicts in every corner of the world, and he will help us deal with the growing risks involved in practicing journalism."

Spriggs' immediate responsibilities include coordinating with the campaign staffs of Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama for AP's April 14 annual meeting, where the two presidential hopefuls will separately address in Washington, D.C., the newspaper and broadcast membership of the not-for-profit news cooperative.

Carlton Daniel Spriggs spent 28 years in the Secret Service, starting as a special agent with the Albuquerque, N.M. field office and working his way up to deputy director in Washington, D.C. in 2002. In that role -- the No. 2 position in the agency -- he helped carry out the presidential executive order transitioning the Secret Service from the Department of the Treasury to the newly created Department of Homeland Security before he left in September 2004.

The next month Spriggs went to the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia, part of the nation's central bank. He stayed until 2007 as assistant vice president, managing the regional bank's protection department and overseeing a uniformed force of Federal Reserve law enforcement officers whose duties included security of the facility.

During Spriggs' Secret Service career, he also served in Washington and White Plains, N.Y., before joining the managerial ranks in 1991 as special agent in charge of the Philadelphia office, and advancing to such positions in the nation's capital as deputy special agent in charge of the vice presidential protective division and assistant to the special agent in charge of the presidential protective division. He routinely coordinated with military and law enforcement agencies in other countries when he was engaged in advance security work for trips by the president and vice president as well as visiting foreign heads of state.

The Department of Treasury recognized Spriggs with its Special Act Award for his performance during the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan.

A native of Washington, D.C., Spriggs earned a bachelor's degree in education/university studies at the University of New Mexico. He began his law enforcement career in 1974 as a police officer in Albuquerque, N.M. Among his affiliations are the International Association of the Chiefs of Police, the U.S. Marine Corp Law Enforcement Foundation and the National Organization of Blacks in Law Enforcement.

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