PROFILE: James Murray ’90
Selfless Service The new director of the Secret Service, of whom much is expected, reflects on the demands of his job and his rise to the top of the government agency.
You have to be ready for the things you don’t expect. It’s a mantra that James Murray ’90 has repeated to himself during his 29-year career in law enforcement, including when he was named the 26th director of the Secret Service in May. “I never intended or expected to be the director of the Secret Service,” said Murray, who is now in charge of 142 domestic field offices, 19 international field offices and 7,300 employees. “Even though I was stunned when I got the word, I was obviously proud and humbled and honored. Murray mentions “expectations” frequently, reflecting on what he expected in his life and how that changed over the years. He seeks to live up to a standard set by his parents, colleagues, friends and teachers. His mother, who waited tables to put the kids through Catholic school, and his father, a state trooper, inspired him, he said, as did many friends and professors at Scranton. “I realize that every time that I don’t comport myself in the way that I should, I’m not only letting myself down, I’m also letting the people I model myself after down,” he said. “And many of those people were at Scranton. That includes all the people I lived with at 1215 Linden.” 34
THE SCRANTON JOURN A L
James Murray being sworn in as the 26th director of the Secret Service in May 2019.
According to Dave Peracchio ’90, Murray’s former roommate on Linden, the new director is “of the highest character with the utmost integrity. … He’s someone you’d trust with your life.”
A Cadet As an ROTC cadet at Scranton, Murray, a Point Pleasant, New Jersey, native, often woke at dawn to train and dedicated most of his time to the program, but he insists that he was “far and away not the best cadet.” He relied on his mentors, he said, both his sergeants and his history and criminal justice professors to help him through. But it wasn’t only the ROTC program that persuaded him to come to Scranton. On his first visit, as a high school senior, he said he simply felt welcome. “Whether it was students in school or people in town, everybody said hello and looked you in the eye and smiled,” he remembered. “I had the sense that when you were introduced to folks and they said ‘Hi, how are you?’ and ‘Nice to meet you,’ they meant it. That was really why I chose Scranton in the end.” He was also inspired by the “inclusiveness of the Jesuits,” who disavowed Greek life. He learned to be even more ap-
