Homeland Security reopens Secret Service case
The US Department of Homeland Security has reopened an investigation into Secret Service’s targeting of a member of the US Congress.
Some agents with Secret Service, an arm of the DHS, tried to leak information about failed efforts by House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to join the federal law enforcement agency, also called the USSS.
The DHS’s office of inspector general said in a brief Monday statement that it was going to probe “allegations that one or more Secret Service agents improperly accessed internal databases to look up the employment application of an individual who later became a Member of Congress.”
Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy (pictured below) admitted earlier that he knew about the matter more than he had told the office of inspector general on July 17, when he claimed he was unaware of Chaffetz’s failed attempt.
“The investigation was reopened as a result of Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy announcing that he now has a different recollection of the events in question,” said the office.
Holding wrongdoers accountable
Forty-five Secret Service agents tried to access the Utahn Republican lawmaker in an effort to leak embarrassing information about him, the DHS watchdog office said last week.
The news drew White House’s reaction with press secretary Josh Earnest saying that US President Barack Obama “certainly takes this issue very seriously.”
“This is sensitive information that we’re talking about,” Earnest said. “The thought that something like this would be politicized is wrong.
“The president does have confidence that following up on information that’s included in the inspector general’s report, that [DHS] Secretary [Jeh] Johnson and Director Clancy will ensure that steps are taken both to prevent the disclosure of this type of information in the future and also to hold accountable those that engaged in wrongdoing.”
The Secret Service has faced public embarrassments over several breaches of professional duty and sexual scandals by its staff.
The embarrassments were masked by the agency’s “unprecedented” performance, as Obama put it in his "special commendation" after a busy week in the agency that saw visits by Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping and hundreds of world leaders who gathered in New York for the UN General assembly.
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