After getting tapped to run the New York field office last year, the FBI’s Mark J. Mershon vowed to “stand shoulder to shoulder” with NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly in the fight against terrorism, and ease the friction and jealousy between the two agencies. He’s been credited with fostering some of that homeland-security détente, but now it looks like he’s getting ready to put in his retirement papers and take a higher-paying corporate security gig. Law-enforcement insiders say that Mershon was recently up for a gig as security czar of the New York Stock Exchange—including being the liaison to city and federal security officials—but was beat out by Brian Gimlett, who ran the U.S. Secret Service office in New York. An FBI spokesman declined to comment on Mershon’s alleged interest, citing a policy not to discuss “personnel matters.” The Bureau has had trouble keeping a director at the New York field office, its largest, for any significant period of time because, as one insider points out, it’s typically used as a “last stopping-off point” to the lucrative private sector.
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