Secret Service Under Scrutiny In Prostitution Scandal [News 15.04]

Ahead of a visit president Barack Obama took in Colombia, the Secret Service assigned an unit to have everything ready in due time. But the Secret Service unit that was assigned the Colombia presidential visit, apparently had other things in mind, than manage official business. Now, members of the congress are having the Secret Service unit under scrutiny in the prostitution scandal.

For the institution itself, the Colombia prostitution scandal is a big image blow. Congressman Peter King said that the Secret Service prostitution scandal tarnishes its image and dismissed the misconduct incident to be an “aberration”. However, other members of the Congress worry the Secret Service prostitution scandal might be just the tip of the iceberg. “This kind of a breach is a breach in the federal workforce’s most elite protective unit” said Republican Darrell Issa. 

So far, following the prostitution scandal, 11 members of the Secret Service unit sent in Colombia have been placed on administrative leave. Another five U.S. military members are now under investigation over suspicions they “may have been involved in inappropriate conduct”.

But investigators are still putting together pieces of the puzzle. Darrell Issa told CBS’s Face the Nation that there might have been more Secret Service members involved than the 11 already on administrative leave. But as Issa added, the Congress’ investigation is looking at “how this happened and how often has this happened before: Things like this don’t happen once if they didn’t happen before”.

So, what happened you ask?

Apparently the Secret Service unit has been making a tradition to have “wheels-up parties” whenever they had to travel overseas. Once the officials leave the area, the unit celebrated with prostitutes. This time, as the president was set to arrive at an international summit in Colombia this weekend, the Secret Service unit brought prostitutes into their rooms in Hotel Caribe of Cartagena.

Everything would still have remained unknown if it hadn’t been for a dispute with a woman over payment. Employees from Hotel Caribe called the police after they stumbled upon a woman in an agent’s room. The agent didn’t abide by the hotel’ guest policy but the matter even if solved quickly, was reported by officers to the U.S. Embassy. 11 members of the Secret Service members have been replaced.

Peter King said: “First of all, to be getting involved with prostitutes in a foreign country can leave yourself vulnerable to blackmail and threats. To be bringing prostitutes or almost anyone into a security zone when you’re supposed to protect the president is totally wrong”.