FILE: A Secret Service agenct looks on as then U.S. Sen. Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event September 29, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret
Service sent three agents home from the Netherlands just before
President Barack Obama's arrival after one agent was found inebriated in
an Amsterdam hotel.
The three
agents were benched Sunday for "disciplinary reasons," said Secret
Service spokesman Ed Donovan, declining to elaborate. Donovan said the
incident was prior to Obama's arrival Monday in the country and did not
compromise the president's security in any way.
Still,
the incident represents a fresh blemish for an elite agency struggling
to rehabilitate its reputation following a high-profile prostitution
scandal and other allegations of misconduct. An inspector general's
report in December concluded there was no evidence of widespread
misconduct, in line with the service's longstanding assertion that it
has no tolerance for inappropriate behavior.
The
agents sent home from Amsterdam were placed on administrative leave,
according to The Washington Post, which first reported the disciplinary
action. The newspaper said all three were on the Counter Assault Team,
which defends the president if he comes under attack, and that one agent
was a "team leader."
One
agent was discovered highly intoxicated by staff at a hotel, who
reported it to the U.S. Embassy, said a person familiar with the
situation, who wasn't authorized to discuss the alleged behavior on the
record and demanded anonymity. The other two agents were deemed
complicit because they didn't intervene despite being in a position to
assist the drunken agent or tamp down his behavior, the person said.
"It wasn't like a big, crazy party," the person said.
Obama arrived
in the Netherlands early Monday on the first leg of a weeklong,
four-country trip. He departed for Brussels on Tuesday night, and there
were no known security issues during his stay in the Netherlands.
Before
Obama travels anywhere abroad, a slew of Secret Service and other
government officials are dispatched in advance to prepare the intense
security operation needed to protect the president in unfamiliar
territory. Typically, counter assault teams travel with the president in
his motorcade and if he came under fire, the team would be called upon
to engage any attackers while the president was hustled to safety.
Stricter
rules implemented in the wake of the prostitution scandal in Colombia
bar agents from drinking alcohol within 10 hours of starting a shift.
It's unclear whether the other two agents were drinking heavily or what
time any of them would have been expected to show up for a shift.
The
Secret Service's reputation for rowdy, fraternity-like behavior
snowballed in April 2012 in the run-up to another Obama foreign trip,
this one in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena, Colombia, where 13
agents and officers were accused of carousing with female foreign
nationals at a hotel where they were staying before Obama's arrival.
After
a night of heavy partying in bars and clubs, the employees brought
women, including prostitutes, back to their hotel. Six of the employees
eventually resigned or retired, while others had their security
clearances revoked or were removed from duty.
Seeking to turn a
page on that chapter in the service's famed history, Obama last year
named veteran Secret Service agent Julia Pierson as the agency's first
female director and signaled his desire to change the culture at the
male-dominated service. Less than a year later, two additional officers
were removed from Obama's detail following allegations of
sexually-related misconduct that came to light after an incident at an
upscale hotel next to the White House.
A
145-page report issued late last year by the Homeland Security
Department inspector general determined there was no evidence of
widespread misconduct within the Secret Service. Following the South
American prostitution scandal, the agency put new procedures in place,
including a ban on bringing foreign nationals to hotel rooms where
agents and officers are staying.
Original post Found here
P.s What were they thinking. Behavior like this is reserved only for member of congress and there aids.(shiloh)
No comments:
Post a Comment