[9] In August 2022, President Biden announced the appointment of Cheatle as director of the United States Secret Service,[10] and she assumed office on September 17, 2022.

"[13] In 2023, Cheatle told CBS News the agency needed to "attract diverse candidates and give opportunities to everybody in the workforce, particularly women," outlining her goal that by 2030, thirty percent of its recruits would be female.

[18][19][20][21] The Secret Service called criticism of female agents "misogynistic" and reaffirmed its belief where diversity in recruiting was "helping, not hurting, the effectiveness of its protective teams.

"[22] On July 13, 2024, during the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Cheatle was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the 2024 Republican National Convention was due to commence in two days.

However, Cheatle told ABC News that she would not resign from her position[23] and defended herself by saying that local law enforcement had been responsible for securing the building from which the shooter launched his attack.

[24][25] On July 20, 2024, Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-PA) called on Cheatle to resign in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, making him the first congressional Democrat to do so.

[28] During the hearing, she acknowledged it was "the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades" and faced a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers calling for her to resign.