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                       New Scandal for US Secret Service

   by VOA News

   Two high-ranking U.S. Secret Service agents are under investigation due
   allegations they drove a government car into a security barricade at
   the White House after drinking at a late-night party.

   In a story first reported Wednesday by The Washington Post, local
   police and Secret Service officers were investigating the discovery of
   a suspicious package near the White House when the agents drove through
   an entrance that had been closed off.

   Officers on the scene wanted to arrest the agents and put them through
   sobriety tests, according to the Post, but they were ordered by a
   supervisor to release the pair.

   One of the agents has been identified as the second-ranking commander
   on President Barack Obama's personal security detail. The investigation
   is being conducted by the Homeland Security department, which oversees
   the Secret Service.

   "If misconduct is identified, appropriate action will be taken based on
   established rules and regulations," said Secret Service spokesman Brian
   Leary.

   "The fact that this event involved senior-level agents is not only
   embarrassing but exhibits a clear lack of judgment in a potentially
   dangerous situation," said a joint statement issued by Representative
   Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the Republican-led House Oversight and
   Government Reform Committee, and Representative Elijah Cummings, the
   committee's top Democrat.

   This is the latest embarrassing incident for the Secret Service, which
   is tasked to protect the president and vice president and their
   families.  The most recent incident occurred last September, when a man
   armed with a knife jumped the White House fence and ran all the way
   into the mansion before he was stopped. The incident led to the
   resignation of then-Director Julia Pierson.

   An independent review conducted after the September incident described
   an agency that was too "insular" and starved for leadership.  The
   report called for an outsider to lead the Secret Service, but Obama
   named Joseph Clancy, a veteran Secret Service agent, to the post.
   Clancy, who headed the president's detail early in his administration
   before retiring from the agency, was named interim director after
   Pierson's resignation.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/new-scandal-for-us-secret-service/267
   7086.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/new-scandal-for-us-secret-service/2677086.html