Secret Service

WASHINGTON - More resignations are expected soon in the Secret Service prostitution scandal. "It is our understanding the resignations could come today or tomorrow," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Thursday. He has been briefed by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan. The Secret Service announced Wednesday that it was seeking to fire one supervisor tied to the alleged misconduct. Another supervisor is retiring, and a third agent will be allowed to retire.

WASHINGTON - The prostitution scandal that has embroiled the Secret Service is not evidence of a wider culture of boozing and paying for sex among those who are trained to take a bullet for the president, the director of the agency told skeptical senators. The senators challenged Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to explain how it was possible, without an atmosphere of permissiveness among the agency's supervisors, that 12 agents could go out in separate groups on April 11 in Cartagena, Colombia, independently decide to bring women back to their hotel rooms, and then sign the women in at the front desk next to the agents' real names.

More black agents joined a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Secret Service on Thursday, adding new claims that they frequently endure racial slurs. The 19, who include some former agents, join 38 others in a lawsuit first filed in February. They claim their white colleagues and supervisors regularly use a racial epithet to refer to criminal suspects and black leaders of other countries.

The woman at the heart of the scandal that has tarnished the image of the Secret Service worldwide called the agents she ran into “stupid brutes” in an interview with NBC's “Today.” Dania Londono Suarez, speaking through a translator, had nothing but contempt for the agents and their behavior in Cartagena, Colombia prior to President Obama's arrival for the Summit of the Americas. “They were full of themselves,” she said. “I'm not to blame for being attractive,” she said after being asked if she has culpability for tempting the agents.

The Pentagon is investigating 10 U.S. military members in a widening probe into whether an advance team of Secret Service and military personnel hired local prostitutes or engaged in other misconduct before President Obama visited Colombia for a summit last week, U.S. officials said. The Pentagon investigation is focusing on five Special Forces Army soldiers, two Marines, two Navy personnel and one member of the Air Force, a U.S. military official said.  The Navy and Air Force personnel are members of explosive detection unit, the official said,.

When the U.S. Secret Service decided to order two custom-made buses, including the one that transported President Obama through the upper Midwest this week, they had a specific model in mind.  The service, which has been transporting protectees by bus since Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign, wanted a particular model only available from the Quebec-based manufacturer Prevost.  “The vehicle had to support the weight of security and communication equipment...

The great irony of the Secret Service sex scandal is that for many decades its agents had protected presidents and senior officials from scandal over sexual trysts and romantic affairs - indeed, often discreetly facilitating them - only to embarrass itself in a hotel in Cartagena, Colombia. The 12 Secret Service employees being investigated for cavorting with at least 20 prostitutes last month were in Colombia to prepare for President Obama's arrival for the Summit of the Americas.

The U.S. Secret Service said Wednesday that a suspect potentially tied to a shooting incident near the White House on Friday has been arrested in Pennsylvania. According to a statement from the agency, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, was apprehended by Pennsylvania state troopers at a hotel in Indiana, Pa., at 12:35 p.m. EST based on information generated by Secret Service agents in the Pittsburgh field office. The Secret Service, ATF, FBI, U.S. Park Police and the Washington Metropolitan Police Department had been working together to locate Ortega-Hernandez after law enforcement Friday responded to the sound of gunfire on Constitution Avenue, approximately 700 yards south of the White House.

WASHINGTON - In the aftermath of the Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that the Homeland Security Committee he chairs would send questions to the agency this week and hold public hearings to explore questions such as whether the case was isolated and what rules govern the conduct of agents who are on assignment but off-duty. “From what we know about what happened in Cartagena, they were not acting like Secret Service agents,” said Lieberman (I-Conn.)

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- President Obama said Sunday he would be angry if an internal investigation showed that Secret Service personnel were involved in misconduct while in Colombia because he expected his delegation to act with the "utmost in dignity and probity. " But as he closed a weekend meeting here with world leaders, Obama said he would wait until the investigation was done before passing judgment on the agents and officers, part of a team that he said performed "extraordinary work on a day-to-day basis protecting me, my family and U.S. officials.

The great irony of the Secret Service sex scandal is that for many decades its agents had protected presidents and senior officials from scandal over sexual trysts and romantic affairs - indeed, often discreetly facilitating them - only to embarrass itself in a hotel in Cartagena, Colombia. The 12 Secret Service employees being investigated for cavorting with at least 20 prostitutes last month were in Colombia to prepare for President Obama's arrival for the Summit of the Americas.

WASHINGTON - With eight Secret Service agents already forced out of the agency in the aftermath of a prostitution scandal, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate committee on Wednesday that investigators were trying to determine whether such conduct occurred on previous trips. "Part of our investigation is confirming that this was an aberration - or not," Napolitano said during an oversight hearing called by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The eight Secret Service agents retired, resigned or were fired by the agency for their alleged misconduct in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of President Obama's arrival for an international summit April 13. A ninth agent will have his security clearance permanently revoked, which would force him to leave the Secret Service unless he successfully appeals the decision.

Two more Secret Service employees have resigned and another two have been cleared as part of the ongoing prostitution scandal investigation. According to the agency, the actions Tuesday bring to eight the number of employees who have resigned or left the agency for alleged misconduct in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of President Obama's arrival for an international summit April 13. Three employees have now been cleared of serious misconduct but...

Alternately serious and silly, President Obama weighed in on the ongoing Secret Service scandal and even "slow jammed" the news as he taped an appearance on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" on Tuesday. Obama, already the first sitting president to appear on "The Tonight Show," "The Late Show" and "The Daily Show," treaded even deeper into the overnight hours as part of his two-day, three-state tour of college campuses to press his case to extend lower interest rates for some student loan programs.

WASHINGTON - The Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold public hearings on the Secret Service sex scandal, Chairman Joe Lieberman said Sunday, to explore whether the incident in Colombia was isolated and what rules govern the conduct of agents who are on assignment but off-duty. "From what we know about what happened in Cartagena, they were not acting like Secret Service agents," Lieberman (I-Conn.) told "Fox News Sunday. " "They were acting like a bunch of college students away on spring weekend.

WASHINGTON -- An internal review found no evidence that White House staff members engaged in "improper conduct" in Cartagena, Colombia, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. Carney said the Office of White House Counsel conducted the review of White House staff members "out of due diligence" and not in response to a "specific credible allegation. " The Colombian prostitution scandal has consumed much of Washington for more than a week and led to rampant speculation, as reports of heavy drinking and hard partying among a Secret Service and military advance team have leaked out.   "There is no indication that the White House advance team engaged in any improper conduct or behavior," Carney said.

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- Five members of the U.S. military may have taken part with Secret Service agents in misconduct involving prostitutes at a hotel in Cartagena,and have been confined to their quarters for violating curfew. The service members -- assigned to support the Secret Service at this weekend's Summit of the Americas -- may have been involved in "inappropriate conduct" at the Hotel Caribe, where a team of now-recalled Secret Service agents was staying, the United States Southern Command said Saturday.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is investigating 10 U.S. military members in a widening inquiry into whether an advance team led by the Secret Service hired prostitutes or engaged in other misconduct before President Obama visited Colombia for a weekend summit, U.S. officials said Monday. The Pentagon investigation is focusing on five Army Special Forces soldiers, two Marines, two Navy personnel and one member of the Air Force, a U.S. military official said. The Navy and Air Force personnel belong to an explosives detection unit, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

WASHINGTON - In the aftermath of the Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that the Homeland Security Committee he chairs would send questions to the agency this week and hold public hearings to explore questions such as whether the case was isolated and what rules govern the conduct of agents who are on assignment but off-duty. “From what we know about what happened in Cartagena, they were not acting like Secret Service agents,” said Lieberman (I-Conn.)

WASHINGTON - Topic A on Sunday's talk shows was federal employees behaving badly, with most outcry over the Secret Service agents ensnared in a prostitution scandal in Colombia. But criticism also mounted for the General Services Administration, caught in its own brouhaha over extravagant spending at a Las Vegas conference and other venues. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the GSA's lavish spending in Las Vegas was “really outrageous” and “sickening” because it didn't represent most people who work for the federal government.