Three Secret Service employees are leaving in the prostitution scandal that has rocked the agency, and eight other employees remain on administrative leave, the agency announced. Click below to read the rest of the story.
One supervisor was allowed to retire, and another faces termination proceedings. The third, a non-supervisory employee, resigned, the agency said.
It is unclear if more firings are imminent, but one federal law enforcement official said the number of firings would be between two and “a handful.”
The scandal was made public Saturday. As many as 11 agents and 10 military servicemembers allegedly brought prostitutes back to their hotel in Cartagena, Columbia, while doing advance work before the president’s arrival for a trade summit.
The swelling scandal has raised questions about the “secret” culture at the nation’s elite protection agency — and few are feeling the heat more intensely than its director, Mark Sullivan.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said he’s had concerns about the Secret Service since two socialites crashed a White House state dinner in November 2009 and were allowed to get close to the president and vice president.
“Something like this is equally as troubling. At some point, (Sullivan) has to take responsibility,” Thompson said.
But so far, officials on both sides of the aisle are largely defending Sullivan’s leadership.
Even so, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the leading members of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Sullivan urging him to take action.
