Secret Service

WASHINGTON - President Obama has confidence in the Secret Service director, his spokesman said Tuesday, as a prostitution scandal widened with allegations that at least 20 women joined members of the U.S. advance team arranging security for the president's visit to Colombia last weekend. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who was briefed by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, told reporters that "20 or 21 women foreign nationals were brought" to the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, where the Secret Service and other members of the advance team were staying.

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,.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) continued his hard line on the Secret Service on Monday, following the scandal that emerged from Colombia during the weekend, contending that the alleged actions of the agents is a betrayal of their country. Issa, the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has already pledged to monitor the allegations that members of the Secret Service and U.S. military were caught with prostitutes during preparations for President Barack Obama's visit to the Summit of the Americas.

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 -- Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Sunday that he will monitor an investigation into allegations that Secret Service agents and members of the military may have been involved with prostitutes while in Colombia last week to prepare for President Obama's participation in the Summit of the Americas. “We will participate in over-the-shoulder investigation,” Issa told CBS' Bob Schieffer on Sunday, saying it was too soon to say whether hearings would be called.

CARTAGENA, Colombia - President Obama said Sunday he would be angry if an internal investigation showed Secret Service personnel engaged in misconduct while in Colombia, because he expected representatives of the U.S. to act with the "utmost in dignity and probity. " But as he finished a weekend meeting with other Western Hemisphere leaders here, Obama said he would wait until the investigation concluded before passing judgment on the agents and military 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.

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.

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 - Eleven Secret Service agents and five members of the U.S. military working on a security team preparing for President Obama's arrival at a regional summit in Colombia were under investigation Saturday for apparent misconduct involving prostitutes. The incident occurred early Thursday at the Hotel Caribe, a historic beachfront hotel where the advance team was staying in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena. The episode began when police and hotel personnel began checking hotel rooms as part of the strict security surrounding the weekend Summit of the Americas, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.