Secret Service issues stricter behavior standards

(CBS NEWS) WASHINGTON -- Moving quickly to try to put its record of bad behavior behind it, the Secret Service has issued strict new behavior guidelines.

The enhanced standards were sent out to all Secret Service personnel, and are effective immediately.

It's the latest attempt by the agency to get control of the sex scandal enveloping the agency, amid new questions about a culture of inappropriate behavior.

The agency handed down the new "enhanced standards of conduct" two weeks after the Secret Service prostitution scandal broke in Colombia, as allegations of inappropriate behavior expanded to four countries.

An internal agency memo says personnel should "consider your conduct through the lens of the past several weeks."

Among the enhanced standards: Foreign nationals cannot enter employees' hotel rooms, excluding hotel staff and official counterparts. Patronizing in non-reputable establishments is not allowed. And drinking alcohol can only be done while off-duty and in moderate amounts. It's prohibited within 10 hours of reporting for duty.

Next week, more than 100 Secret Service personnel are scheduled to take an ethics in law enforcement class. The agency says more of these additional training sessions will be held throughout the year.

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Allegations of partying, drinking and inappropriate sexual activity have expanded to four countries.

The Secret Service says it has yet to launch formal investigations into the new allegations.

"You know nothing's changed in Washington if heads don't roll," Sen. Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) said on "CBS This Morning" Friday. He said officials must be held accountable, but stopped short of calling for Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to step down.

As a number of lawmakers demand a wider investigation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a different take on correcting the culture of the agency.

Asked by CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes Thursday what he thinks should be done "if it turns out this is a recurring problem," Reid replied, "Hire more females."

To see Whit Johnson's report, click on the video in the player above.

[BlameRepublicanz]

who the hell cares about this...so some secret service guys want to get laid, so what? as long as they arent doing it when they should be doing their job.

[jagillis02909]

Chaperones... lol come on.. thats pretty funny! Chaperones for secret service is hilarious

[saygoodbyetofreedom]

I don't care what anyone does when they are off the clock. What they do in their own time should remain their own business. If I'm not getting paid for my time off, I don't want anyone telling me how to spend it.

[RadioFreeAlbquerque]

Ok...let me see if I have this right: The Secret Service--the most revered law enforcement branch of government--hires and promotes to supervisor people who HAVE TO HAVE A REGULATION to tell them partying with prostitutes is wrong. And that frequenting seedy nightclubs is a bad idea. Do I have that right?

Decades of moral rot at the center of our society--promoted by BOTH political parties--has brought us to the need to have regulations to tell Secret Service agents they have to behave in a manner deemed respectable?

This country is sick.

[LittleStream53]

What is really the most tragic comment about this whole mess is that supposedly these are mature men, trained to do their jobs. They know how important those jobs are. They know that sometimes those jobs can mean life or death. And they still screw around. Men need to do more thinking with the other head. Embarrassing for the whole country! We just keep showing the world what idiots we are!

[Nina0709]

This problem in arguably the most revered law enforcement branch of government will not be solved by regulations and hall monitors. This incident is a gross ethics violation that the perpetrators knew was a gross ethics violation. It reflects poorly on the administration, suggesting they don't know their arse from their elbow. The solutions put forth continue to suggest that; they are ludicrous.