Secret service agents took 20 women to Colombian hotel, says senator

Karen McVeigh in New York

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 April 2012 14.05 EDT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/17/secret-service-scandal-colombia-twenty-women

At least 20 women were brought back to a hotel in Colombia by secret service agents and military personnel who are now under investigation into allegations of misconduct involving prostitutes, according to a US senator.

Speaking after she was briefed by the director of the secret service, Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate homeland security committee, said on Tuesday: "There are 11 agents involved. Twenty or 21 women foreign nationals were brought to the hotel, but allegedly marines were involved with the rest."

A spokesman for the secret service told the Guardian that it had revoked the top security clearances of the 11 employees, who have been placed on administrative leave and can no longer access official facilities. A number of military personnel, believed to be as many as 10, were also allegedly involved in misconduct at the hotel in Cartagena where President Barack Obama was due to stay ahead of a summit.

A US official told Reuters on Monday that more than 10 military service members may have been involved.

The incident, which overshadowed Obama's visit to the summit in Colombia, has triggered scrutiny of a culture where, according to the Washington Post, married secret service agents joke during aircraft take-off that their motto is "wheels up, rings off". It has also prompted questions about discipline and leadership in the service.

Collins told Reuters in an email that Mark Sullivan, the service's director, was "rightly appalled by the agents actions and is pursuing a vigorous internal investigation. He ordered all the agents to return to Washington immediately, and all have been interviewed."

Collins said she asked Sullivan several questions, including who the women were. "Could they have been members of groups hostile to the United States? Could they have planted bugs, disabled weapons, or jeopardised security of the president or our country?"

She also asked whether there was evidence of previous misconduct, and "given the number of agents involved, does this indicate a problem with the culture of the secret service?"

Sullivan had promised to keep her updated and Collins said she was confident he would fully investigate and "pursue appropriate action against the agents should the allegations prove true."

The Senate homeland security committee shares jurisdiction over the secret service with the judiciary committee.

The Washington Post said that two of the agents involved were paid at the highest federal level, which could have made them supervisors. NBC News has said that two secret service supervisors and three counter-assault team members, who play a key role in protecting the president according to a law enforcement source quoted by the station, were among the 11 employees being investigated.

The law enforcement source told the station that all secret service personnel had been given copies of the schedule for the trip and were told to lock them in a safe in their hotel rooms. That raised the possibility of a security breach when the agents allegedly brought prostitutes back to their rooms, NBC said.

However, a secret service source told Reuters that the employees involved in the incident were support personnel and not part of the advance team, so they would typically not have detailed itineraries and schedules that far ahead of the president's arrival. The source also said that any such paper would not be left in a hotel room, but would be kept in a security room set up for foreign presidential trips, guarded by marines 24/7.

"That kind of stuff is not kept in rooms," the secret service source said.

A spokesman for the secret service would not confirm the make-up of the members positions or assignations.

"All I can say is they were a mixture of special agents and uniformed officers," he told the Guardian. He said that there was a wide range of potential sanctions available, including firing the individuals involved if appropriate, but stressed: "It's an ongoing investigation and these are just allegations."

Republican congressman Peter King, who heads the House of Representatives homeland security committee, told NBC's Today show that if the agents did have copies of the president's schedule, the incident "could have been disastrous."

"This violates the most basic rule of being a secret service agent: You don't allow a potential enemy into your security zone," said King, who added that he had not seen such behaviour before from US agents.

A separate report on Tuesday from ABC News said secret service agents partying at a club in Cartagena boasted that they worked for Obama and were in Colombia to protect him.