Secret Service bashes Fox News on Twitter

The Secret Service has only been on Twitter for 10 days, and it looks like the Service is still trying to work out the kinks.

A Tweet went out on the Secret Service's official, verified account Wednesday that read: "Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can't. Deal. With. The. Blathering."

That was quite a departure from the typical Tweets from the service, such as, "Meet our Secret Service recruiters at events throughout the U.S. Visit http://www.secretservice.gov/join/apply_events.shtml to learn more."

The Tweet was quickly deleted, but before it came down it was retweeted by some of the Service's 18,000-plus followers, some of whom also took screengrabs.

In a statement released to CBS News, Edwin M. Donovan, Special Agent in Charge at the Secret Service Office of Government and Public Affairs, said the tweet was the result of someone not understanding that the account was public.

"An employee with access to the Secret Service's Twitter account, who mistakenly believed they were on their personal account, posted an unapproved and inappropriate tweet," said Donovan.

"The tweet contained no vulgarity, security or pertinent agency information," he continued. "The tweet did not reflect the views of the U.S. Secret Service and it was immediately removed. We apologize for this mistake, and the user no longer has access to our official account."

Added Donovan: "Policies and practices which would have prevented this were not followed and will be reinforced for all account users. We will ensure existing policies are strictly adhered to in order to prevent this mistake from being repeated, and we are conducting appropriate internal follow-up."

It's not clear what prompted the tweet, but FoxNews.com reports that Fox News has been covering the story of  13-year-old Vito LaPinta today. LaPinta was interviewed by the Secret Service after posting on Facebook that President Obama should watch out for terrorist attacks in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden. LaPinta's mother has complained that she was not present when the Secret Service interviewed her son.