In Secret Service hearing, additional allegations of misconduct unearthed
U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, followed by Department of Homeland Security's acting Inspector General Charles K. Edwards, arrive on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 201, to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
/ AP Photo/Charles DharapakUpdated: 5:04 p.m. ET
(CBS News) Amid an ongoing investigation into a prostitution scandal involving Secret Service members, new details have emerged about sexual misconduct allegations that have been leveled at Secret Service agents over the last five years, causing some lawmakers to question whether the recent incident speaks broadly about the culture of the agency.
In a Wednesday Senate Homeland Security hearing investigating the scandal, which rocked the agency in April after a dozen secret service officers were implicated for hiring prostitutes in Colombia, Senators questioned U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan on both the recent scandal and others, and expressed skepticism that what happened in Cartagena was an entirely isolated incident.
Senator Joe Lieberman, the chair of the committee, noted that over the last five years, 64 additional allegations of misconduct have been recorded - including one complaint of non-consensual sex.
Lieberman said that most of the complaints "involved sending sexually explicit emails or sexually explicit material on a government computer," but that three of the complaints involved charges of a relationship with a foreign national, "and one was a complaint of non-consensual sexual intercourse."
Sullivan testified that the allegation of non-consensual sex had been thoroughly investigated by law enforcement, which ultimately decided not to go forward with charges. The other three incidents, he said, involved contact with foreign nationals and that all of the incidents "were investigated and the appropriate administrative action was taken on all three." According to Sullivan, none of those three incidents involved prostitution.
Sullivan also discussed an incident in which an agent was "separated from the agency" after soliciting an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute in 2008.
In his opening remarks, Sullivan apologized for the Colombia incident and emphasized that what happened in Cartagena last month "is not representative of [the agency's] values or of the high ethical standards we demand from our nearly 7,000 employees."
"I am deeply disappointed and I apologize for the misconduct of these employees and the distraction it has caused," he said.
Of primary concern among the committee members was the question of whether or not there may have been a "culture" within the Secret Service that tolerated the sort of behavior in which members engaged last month -- particularly after the Washington Post reported Wednesday that several implicated agents charged that was the case.
"It is hard for many people, including me, to believe that on one night in April 2012 in Cartagena, Colombia, 11 secret service agents -- there to protect the president -- suddenly and spontaneously did something they or other agents had never done before," Lieberman said in his testimony.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, echoed that skepticism.
"The facts so far lead me to conclude that, while not at all representative of the majority of Secret Service personnel, this misconduct was almost certainly not an isolated incident," she said in her opening statement. "The numbers [of agents] involved, as well as the participation of two senior supervisors, lead me to believe that this was not a one-time event. Rather, and it suggests an issue of culture."
Collins later pointed to the fact that the involved agents had engaged in similar behaviors independently of each other, as well as the fact that they disguised neither their own nor the prostitutes' identities when signing into the hotel, as evidence that similar conduct may have been tolerated by the Secret Service in the past.
"Two of the participants were supervisors -- one with 22 years of service and the other with 21 -- and both were married. That surely sends a message to the rank and file that this kind of activity is tolerated on the road," she said.
Throughout his testimony, Sullivan disputed that characterization and reiterated his belief that the incident in Colombia was not reflective of the agency as a whole.
"I do not think this is indicative," he said. "I just think that between the alcohol and, I don't know, the environment, these individuals did some really dumb things. And I just can't explain why."
"I just do not think that this is something that is systemic within this organization," he said.
Sullivan also emphasized that President Obama's security was never at risk because the agents had not yet been briefed on relevant security-related details when they engage in the behavior now under scrutiny.
"At the time the misconduct occurred, none of the individuals involved in the misconduct had received any specific protective information, sensitive security documents, firearms, radios or other security-related equipment in their hotel rooms," he said.
Lieberman reported that the investigation had revealed "troubling" incidents but said that so far it had failed to show "a pattern of misconduct" within the agency at large. He called on whistle blowers to come forward with any additional reports of untoward behavior.
"Our initial review of our Secret Service Agency's disciplinary records for the last five years ... show some individual cases of misconduct that are troubling but are not evidence yet of a pattern of misconduct," Lieberman said. "These records do reveal 64 instances, again over 5 years in which allegations or complaints concerning sexual misconduct were made against employees of the Secret Service."
Collins appeared unconvinced, however, that Sullivan's assessment of the situation was entirely accurate.
"He kept saying over and over again that he basically does think this is an isolated incident and I don't think he has any basis for that conclusion," she said after the hearing.
According to acting Inspector General Charles Edwards, who is conducting a three-part independent review of the Secret Service investigation, conclusions from the first phase of the review will be made public in July.
Popular in Politics
- Officials on Benghazi: "We made mistakes, but without malice" 434 Comments
- Top IRS official to invoke 5th Amendment at congressional testimony 125 Comments
- Senate committee approves immigration bill
- Poll: Most think IRS targeting was deliberate 170 Comments
- Obama: "Full focus" is on recovery from Oklahoma tornado 85 Comments
- Va. GOP candidate: Planned Parenthood "more lethal" for blacks than KKK 1199 Comments
- Former IRS chief: "I can't say" what led to IRS targeting
- U.S. IDs several men possibly responsible for Benghazi attack
ITs people like you who dont get it.. real men DONT pay women to have sex loser LOL How pathlic is it dude to you not guys have to pay. give ten to do this 20 to do this how sick not to you what a moron Its called moals and values if dont have those you should and will be in unemployment line sooner or later...
****************************************
Is that you, Newt?
Sure sounds like you...
There are many things that can get an agent divorced and therefore can be used to blackmail an agent. Plenty of those things are not illegal, like abortions, gay sex, and even changing religious affiliation.
Hiring a prostitute is not illegal for an American citizen to do where state laws do not prohibit it, like in rural Nevada and Cartagena, Colombia.
If Sen. Collins is offended by the private, legal conduct of some fellow Americans, then she can consider herself a bigot.
We traveled with JFK around England, to Paris, Berlin and finally Cork City Ireland, but I was usually located several miles away from President Kennedy, ordered to guard a door with my life, while having little or no idea what was on the other side of it
The James Bond craze in the UK was in full swing, and since we were all in civvies, the locals would insist we were all super-spies as well...even if we told them the truth, they'd wink, knowing that was our "cover story"
In Brighton, the Las Vegas of the UK back then, we did some serious club hopping with a genuine Secret Service agent. He was also on the periphery, not assigned to cover one of the "stars," but he really knew how to play the game, and got us into all the most exclusive private clubs free. We were treated like royalty.
Even as a nineteen year old kid, I became quickly aware that this guy drank too often and much too fast...not that he ever showed real signs of being intoxicated, but it seemed to me it looked bad, since he always made certain that everyone knew he was on the Presidential Detail within minutes of meeting them.
When last call (even for us) finally came, he insisted a few of us have a nightcap in his room at the hotel we were all assigned. I asked for Jack Daniels, and he commenced to open hotel drawers in a room he'd moved into that day, amid much clanking of bottles, saying, "Jack Daniels...Jack Daniels...I know there's one here somewhere" The fourth or fifth drawer he tried got it.
Back at the Marine Barracks in London five months later, I thought of that Secret Service agent when we got the news from Dallas...I thought about him a lot...
This Secret Service partying stuff is nothing new...and certainly was in full...aaahhh, "swing"...long before President Obama's time
by EmpireGeorge__----- May 23, 2012 4:55 PM EDT Let me use a phrase popularized by the left....."on his watch".....so when scandals break, it's the sitting President that gets the egg on his face, not the former President, regardless of who was involved.
----
So you're now saying that Clinton had nothing to do with 9/11, then, correct, Empress?
====================================================
Shoot..... I wanted to hear Empire say D'OH
"Extremes to the right and to the left of any political dispute are always wrong."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
----
Absolutely. Extremists aren't capable of actual compromise - just grandstanding.
There goes the game of Whack-a-Mole...
These men take this JOB LIGHTLY, and WE THE TAX PAYERS ARE PAYING FOR YOUR STUPID MISTAKES.
I think the President and secret service should travel together...these men will take advantage of anything
Guys, this is not an Obama scandal, Secret Service has done this before, back in 1999
And keep his lifetime politician job.
He hasnt met a Republican or Democrat spending cow he didnt like.
Worst politician EVER.
Protecting the President of the United States of America requires the men or women in uniform to be professionally fit in order to carry out their responsibility to protect the President.
Unfortunately in this area, in some cases, these men and women can be blackmailed especially, when it comes to their sexually or something that is damaging to their career.
If anybody who has capability to manipulate any agent in the United States. This would be area that somebody can be targeted.
So, it is best for the country to deal with this area, before it gets out of hand.