3 agents leaving Secret Service due to scandal
Two of them are supervisors and the other was a uniformed guard.
Three secret service agents allegedly involved in the prostitution scandal in Colombia are leaving the law enforcement agency.
One supervisor will retire, another supervisor is being "removed for cause" and a third uniformed agent will resign.
"Although the Secret Service's investigation into allegations of misconduct by its employees in Cartagena, Colombia, is in its early stages, and is still ongoing, three of the individuals involved will separate or are in the process of separating from the agency," Paul S. Morrissey, the assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service Office of Government and Public Affairs said in a statement.
The other 8 agents allegedly involved in the scandal are still under investigation with their security clearances suspended while on administrative leave, Morrissey said.
The supervisor "removed for cause" has the opportunity to respond and the right to be represented by private law counsel, Morrissey said.
"The Secret Service continues to conduct a full, thorough and fair investigation, utilizing all investigative techniques available to our agency," Morrissey said. "This includes polygraph examinations, interviews with the employees involved, and witness interviews to include interviews being conducted by our Office of Professional Responsibility in Cartagena, Colombia."
You've probably read more than one take on this incident that sees the whole scandal as just a "boys will be boys" incident in the macho world of presidential protection and military culture. But the probability is that the prostitutes were where they shouldn't have been and may have had access to extremely sensitive materials vital to the protection of the president.
An outside panel will be empowered to look into the issue of whether the president's safety might have been at risk. And they have tasked the Homeland Security Department's Inspector General to get to the bottom of the affair.