Excerpt
MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): The Secret Service sent 11 of its agents home after allegations of misconduct involving prostitutes at their hotel in Cartagena.
In an announcement Saturday, the agency said, "The nature of the allegations, coupled with a zero tolerance policy on personal misconduct, resulted in the Secret Service taking the decisive action to relieve these individuals of their assignment, return them to their place of duty, and replace them with additional Secret Service personnel."
All 11 were placed on leave and late today had their security clearances rescinded. The Secret Service noted none were assigned to the presidential protective division. Military personnel staying in the same hotel also are being investigated, according to the Pentagon.
President Obama asked for a rigorous investigation in comments to reporters Sunday.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then of course I will be angry, because my attitude with respect to the Secret Service personnel is no different than what I expect out of my delegation that is sitting here. We're representing the people of the United States.
We're representing the people of the United States. And when we travel to another country, I expect us to observe the highest standards, because we're not just representing ourselves.
MARGARET WARNER: For more, we turn to Laura Meckler, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal who traveled with the president to Colombia, and Ralph Basham, director of the Secret Service from 2003 to 2006. He's now with Command Consulting Group, a security consulting firm.
IMHO this is much ado about nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment