Secret Service supervisors failed to report agents’ misconduct, IG says
Source: W Post
By Carol D. Leonnig
A government investigator told lawmakers Thursday that the failure of Secret Service supervisors to report a March 4 incident in which two agents drove into a White House bomb-threat investigation resulted from an agency culture in which lower-ranking staff fear retribution if they point out misconduct.
John Roth, inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, said that his investigators found that at least four Secret Service supervisors who knew that the agents may have been drinking that night did not take the appropriate steps to alert the agency of potential violations of policy.
The two agents, Marc Connolly and George Ogilvie, were both senior-level veterans. Connolly, No. 2 on President Obama’s protective detail, outranked all of the officers and commanders on the scene. The agents were allowed to leave without taking sobriety tests.
“This was a point of failure,” Roth said, addressing members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “Everyone in the supervisory chain had a duty to report this either to me or the Secret Service office of professional responsiblity. .?.?. They could have and should have reported this up the chain.”
FULL story at link.
Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth waits to testify Thursday before a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the Secret Service. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-supervisers-failed-to-report-agents-misconduct-ig-says/2015/05/14/063cdb40-fa61-11e4-a13c-193b1241d51a_story.html
