( CNN ) -- Some people are wondering about the capability of the Secret Service after it was revealed that Omar Gonzalez , the fence jumper who breached White House security two weeks ago , made it much farther into the house than previously reported , running through the first floor before he was apprehended outside the Green Room . The details of Gonzalez 's intrusion , coupled with a new report on Tuesday that an armed security contractor was allowed to get into an elevator with the President on a recent trip to the Centers for Disease Control , plus a report that it took the Secret Service four days to learn that seven bullets had hit the White House 's residence area in 2011 and a string of other blunders in recent years ( such as a couple crashing a state dinner and a prostitution scandal in Colombia ) , have put the Secret Service under a harsh light . The problems plaguing the Secret Service go beyond PR embarrassments , and changes seem inevitable . But despite the cries of reform , significant alterations to the way the agency functions will be difficult and ultimately may not even be known to the public . A change at the top . Secret Service Director Julia Pierson 's future is uncertain . On Tuesday , White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said President Obama has confidence in Pierson , whom he appointed in 2013 . But the fervor surrounding this incident does n't bode well for Pierson , the agency 's first female director . `` When you lie , and when you obfuscate and when you cover up , especially in the 21st century , that 's an offense you ca n't walk back from , '' said Jeffrey Engel , director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University and a Secret Service expert . `` That 's really the kiss of death for any leader . '' How much blame Pierson actually deserves is entirely unknown , and the replacement of an agency head -- though often necessary because of optics -- is sometimes purely that : It does n't always bring about change . `` It 's basically impossible that agencies are so entrenched and so enmeshed in their own long-term culture that any change in personnel at the top is merely about symbolism , '' Engel said . `` It 's unlikely in the short term to make any significant impact in how the agency operates . '' Obama appointed Pierson as Secret Service director after her predecessor , Mark Sullivan , retired in early 2013 . Sullivan 's departure came in the wake of another scandal -- when several male agents on a presidential trip in Cartagena , Colombia , took prostitutes back to their hotel rooms -- that rocked the agency nearly a year earlier . Secret Service beefs up presence after 2 White House security incidents . Obstacles to change . Though its director is appointed directly by the president , the Secret Service is not its own government department . It has been a branch of the Department of Homeland Security since March 1 , 2003 , shortly after that department was established . Previously , the Secret Service had been part of the Treasury Department but was moved to streamline the various security measures around the president , the vice president and their families . `` The entire purpose of moving their institutional affiliation after the reforms , after 9/11 , was in order to allow them to focus on their core mission : to protect the president , '' Engel said . `` This was supposed to streamline that and supposed to help with actual physical security issues . '' Change in large bureaucratic structure at agencies such as Homeland Security ( or even Treasury ) is typically difficult and moves very slowly . Plus , the agency did not escape budget cuts in 2013 . There may also be a cultural roadblock to potential reform . `` The Secret Service has the attitude of 'we make do with less ; we can take care of any problem , ' `` said investigative journalist Ron Kessler , a critic of the Secret Service who wrote about some of the details in the 2011 White House shooting in his book `` The First Family Detail . '' The good news is that the Secret Service , which is highly selective , is much smaller than most government agencies , so change could be a bit easier . Secrecy factor . The Secret Service has two missions : protecting the president , the vice president and their respective families , plus past presidents and presidential candidates , and investigating crimes including identity theft , counterfeiting and computer fraud . The protection responsibility is the more recognized of the two and the task that received the majority of the agency 's nearly $ 1.6 billion budget in 2014 : $ 920 million of that total allotment went to protection costs . Because of the nature of its mission , many of the agency 's protocols are secret . `` They assiduously do n't want their protocols available for the public to discuss , '' Engel said . Even some changes in customs brought about by these incidents might not be publicly revealed . A strong record . Recent incidents aside , the Secret Service , which has been protecting American presidents since 1906 , still boasts a generally impressive record . Hundreds of fence jumpers have been apprehended immediately , thousands of presidential trips have gone off without a hitch domestically and overseas , an untold number of threats have been neutralized , and there 's been an ability to keep up with ever-evolving technology that poses new dangers . Secret Service director calls White House intrusion 'unacceptable '
Significant changes to the Secret Service could be difficult to implement . Comment: The agency is facing harsh criticism after an unprecedented White House breach .