Obama South American trip rocked by Secret Service scandal.

[Dos Equis]

How dumb is the guy who caused this whole thing to blow up?  He should have paid the woman and the hotel the money they were asking for.  That might be a dumber mistake than using prostitutes in the first place. 

[Soul Crusher]

 


Obama:  "My daughters will look like Tania after plastic surgery"

[Shockwave]

How dumb is the guy who caused this whole thing to blow up?  He should have paid the woman and the hotel the money they were asking for.  That might be a dumber mistake than using prostitutes in the first place. 

This is what im saying - this is nothing knew with military members - the idiot that didnt pay the bill really fucked all his frieds over. (Of course it goes without saying this probably shouldnt have happened in the 1st place)

[Soul Crusher]

Secret Service supervisors involved in Colombia scandal identified

By David Nakamura and Carol D. Leonnig, Updated: Thursday, April 19, 8:40 PM

One of the Secret Service supervisors who were ousted from the agency this week for their involvement in the Colombia prostitution scandal made light of his official protective work on his Facebook page, joking about a picture of himself standing watch behind Sarah Palin.

David Randall Chaney, 48, posted several shots of himself on duty in a dark suit and sunglasses, including one that shows him behind the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee during that campaign.

“I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?” Chaney wrote in the comments section after friends had marveled at the photo. He is married and has an adult son.

Chaney, who had been a supervisor in the Secret Service’s international programs division, retired under pressure Wednesday, according to people familiar with an internal agency investigation into the allegations that 11 agents and uniformed officers participated in a night of carousing April 11 ahead of President Obama’s visit to the Summit of the Americas.

He was one of two senior supervisors who are accused in the scandal, which investigators believe included heavy drinking, visits to a strip club and payments to women working as prostitutes. Several people familiar with the matter have identified the other supervisor as Greg Stokes, who was assistant special agent in charge of the K-9 division. Stokes has been notified by agency officials that he will be fired, though he will be given an opportunity to contest the charges, those with knowledge of the case said.

The disclosure that two high-level managers were involved in the misconduct has raised questions of accountability and personal conduct in an agency whose top leadership has insisted that the Cartagena incident is an isolated and aberrant case, not a sign of a deeper cultural problem within the institution.

Chaney and Stokes have each worked at the Secret Service for nearly two decades, and both have served significant time with the presidential protection detail, people who know the men said. Both are based in Washington.

The supervisors were sent on the trip to supervise dozens of younger, less-experienced agents who were part of the advance team preparing for Obama’s arrival.

Lawrence Berger, the general counsel for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and an attorney for Chaney and Stokes, declined to comment on details of the allegations involving his clients. He said the agency’s investigation is not complete for either man and stressed that any judgment about their roles in the scandal is “premature.”

“It’s our ultimate position that nothing they may or may not have done in Colombia negatively impacted the efficiency of their mission,” Berger said. “Nothing that has been reported to have been done has impacted negatively their mission or the president’s visit.”

Members of Congress who have been briefed on the matter have said 21 men are suspected of bringing as many as 21 prostitutes to their rooms. Ten service members also have been accused of participating, along with the 11 Secret Service personnel.

The incident became public after one man got into a dispute over payment with a woman on the morning of April 12, drawing the attention of hotel staff and Colombian authorities, who reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy.

The Secret Service recalled its 11 employees and replaced them with another team before Obama arrived April 13. All were placed on administrative leave, and their top-secret security clearances were revoked.

The Secret Service announced Wednesday that three of the men were being dismissed from the agency for their involvement. The third man is a junior member of the team who has voluntarily elected to resign, those familiar with the investigation said.

Berger did not answer questions about his clients’ employment status.

“They have a passion for the agency’s mission,” he said. “They’ve both been doing it for over 17 or 18 years, day in and day out, and very well.”

On Thursday, Capitol Hill lawmakers who oversee the Department of Homeland Security said they expected more resignations and firings in the case. Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the 11 agents involved in the scandal underwent drug tests and polygraph exams. Agency investigators in Colombia have visited all of the hotels where Secret Service personnel stayed and have interviewed each of the maids who cleaned rooms in the Hotel Caribe, King said.

People who know the two supervisors have described Chaney’s duties in the international programs division as supervising a department that provides support and administrative help to the agency’s foreign of fices. Stokes has been described as the assistant special agent in charge of the K-9 training division at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Beltsville.

Attempts to reach both men were unsuccessful. Calls made to Chaney’s home and cell phone and to Stokes’s home were not returned. No one answered the door when a reporter visited Chaney’s home in Northern Virginia. Parked outside was a silver Ford pickup truck, bearing stickers with a colorful outline of Texas, Chaney’s home state, and the mantra “SECEDE.”

A relative of Chaney said she would relay a message to him.

The commitment to the Secret Service runs deep in Chaney’s family. His father, George Washington Chaney, was a Secret Service agent in President John F. Kennedy’s era and knew the agents on his detail when Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

The elder Chaney had remarked to friends that he started at the service working “diaper duty,” where he watched President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s children and grandchildren in Gettysburg, Pa., and also met his wife. Later, he traveled to work in Dallas, where he was on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s protective detail. He also served a stint in the service’s El Paso office and then became the agent in charge of personnel in the D.C. headquarters, where he was working when Kennedy was shot.

He retired in 1977 and started a new line of work as a document examiner in Dallas, where he and his wife, “Toddie,” raised their five children.

On David Chaney’s Facebook page, he posted several shots of himself with Palin.

In one picture, he is wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, standing near a black vehicle behind Palin as she approaches a crowd. In the comments section next to the photo, a friend remarked that Chaney appeared to be “lurking in the shadows” behind Palin.

Another kidded that there seemed to be “real chemistry” between the two.

Chaney posted: “I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?”

Another friend asked if one of the buttons on Palin’s lapel was emblazoned with Chaney’s face.

Chaney replied, “well if it was could you blame her, anything to satisfy a stalker.”

In another set of Facebook photos, Chaney documents a trip he took with his grown son to Egypt. One photo shows a voluptuous belly dancer in a revealing bikini-like top and tight, sequined skirt positioned between him and his son.

“Not in front of my son,” Chaney joked in the comments section.

One current agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation, said both Chaney and Stokes were respected, well-liked agents and supervisors, who were both quick to offer advice and mentor younger agents and officers.

“I was just completely shocked to hear they were involved,” the agent said.




Staff writer Ed O’Keefe and staff researchers Alice Crites and Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.

[Soul Crusher]

Secret Service Supervisor Involved In Colombia Scandal Bragged On Facebook About Checking Out Palin
Business Insider ^ | April 19, 2012 | Adam Taylor
Posted on April 19, 2012 9:22:30 PM EDT by Free ThinkerNY

The Washington Post's David Nakamuraand and Carol D. Leonnig have some fascinating new details up about the Secret Service supervisors involved in Colombia scandal.

Of particular note is the story of David Randall Chaney, a 48-year-old supervisor who was married with an adult son.

After posting photos of himself standing behind Sarah Palin during 2008's presidential election, Chaney reportedly commented, "I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?”

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...

[240 is Back]

lol @ "men" who are "offended" that a dude checked out a woman.


change the tampon already, stop acting like the world is ended.  Some dude banged hookers, got caught, and now they're getting fired.

Everyone is so soft these days.  I can't see Charlton Heston speaking to everyone like "to be honest, I wasn't comfortable that that kind of objectivication, I was offended by their sordid comments and I feel they owe us an apology".

No, heston would drink his whiskey shot and tell em to shut the hell up.

[Soul Crusher]

Palin = winning. 

[240 is Back]

Palin = winning. 

A B E













Anything but elections.

[avxo]

Palin = winning. 

For some definition of winning, at any rate.

[loco]

[Soul Crusher]

3 more out in Secret Service scandal
By: Jennifer Epstein
April 20, 2012 03:31 PM EDT
 
At least three more Secret Service employees involved in the Colombian prostitution scandal are expected to lose their jobs Friday, as the Pentagon increased to 11 the number of military personnel it’s investigating as part of the incident.

The three additional departures, confirmed to POLITICO by a federal official, bring the total number of employees to be forced out or to have quit their jobs to at least six. There are 11 members total of the Secret Service thought to be involved in the scandal, which occurred ahead of President Barack Obama’s trip to Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas.

A Secret Service spokesman wouldn’t confirm or deny the latest departures, or whether they had been fired or quit.

(Also on POLITICO: Photographer claims NYT doing checkbook journalism in Cartagena)

The Pentagon, meanwhile, said Friday that it is investigating 11 members of the military, up from the 10 it had previously identified, The Associated Press reported. The U.S. Southern Command last Saturday had originally pegged the number of military personnel involved at five.

Six are members of the Army in the 7th Special Forces Group, which has headquarters at Eglin Air Force Base outside Valparaiso, Fla., according to the AP. Two each are from the Marines and the Navy, and one is from the Air Force. The Marines and Navy personnel are based in San Diego, and the Air Force member is based in Charleston, S.C.

The first three Secret Service employees left on Wednesday. One supervisor, who’s since been identified as David Chaney, chose to retire under pressure, while another, Greg Stokes, was notified that he will be fired, though he has a right to contest the action. The third employee is a more junior member of the agency who chose to resign.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Friday that, despite the scandal, “the president has high regard for the agency.” Carney said the president hasn’t talked to Secret Service director Mark Sullivan, but wouldn’t rule out that they might speak soon.

Carney also responded to criticism from Republicans including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, saying it was “preposterous to politicize” the issue.
 
 
© 2012 POLITICO LLC
 

[Soul Crusher]

Pley Money

Fired Secret Service agent remains eligible for up to $2.1 million in taxpayer-funded pension payout
BY: Bill McMorris - April 20, 2012 1:19 pm

The disgraced Secret Service supervisors accused of engaging in a cocaine-fueled hooker party on the taxpayer dime will still cash in on lucrative taxpayer-funded pensions.

Three Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Barack Obama have been terminated since it was revealed that they reportedly caroused with prostitutes and drugs in Colombia.

The Washington Post Thursday identified the two supervisors who have been forced out of the agency. Supervisor David Randall Chaney, 48, has been allowed to retire, while Greg Stokes, the assistant special agent in charge of the K-9 division, has been fired with cause. A third low-level officer has resigned his post.

Chaney will soon be cashing in on a pension worth between $47,000 and $61,000 per year, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

Despite the scandal, it will be nearly impossible to prevent him from collecting on the lucrative sum, according to Michael Spekter, an attorney specializing in defending federal benefit packages.

“Even if you’re fired for misconduct, unless you are found guilty of treason, you can get your retirement benefits that you’ve earned through your years of public service,” he said. “They don’t dock your pensions.”

Spekter has represented hundreds of federal employees during his 30-year career and has never seen a worker lose his pension.

Lawyers for the two agents told the Washington Post each man has between 17 and 18 years of service with the agency.

The Secret Service refused to comment on additional personnel matters. However, several federal law enforcement sources say that agents must have at least GS-14 seniority to qualify as supervisors—standards that also apply to the Secret Service.

Federal law enforcement supervisors working out of the D.C. metro area earn between $105,211 and $136,771. The positions qualify for pensions worth 2.5 percent of average highest salary over a period of three consecutive years, multiplied by years of service.

GS-14 supervisors receive pensions worth between $47,000 and $61,000 annually.

Since Chaney is retiring, he can collect on his pension almost immediately and could collect until age 83—the most recent average lifespan estimates for federal law enforcement officers, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Over his lifetime, he could receive between $1.65 and $2.15 million in retirement.

Stokes, the fired agent, also qualifies for his pension and will begin collecting at age 62, which would earn him up to $1.3 million over his expected lifetime.

The Washington Free Beacon estimate could be on the low end of the spectrum.

Once in retirement, the agents will continue to enjoy a Cadillac health insurance plan while paying minimal premiums. They will also enjoy annual cost of living adjustments, which increase pensions based upon the consumer price index. Retirees enjoyed a 3.6 percent pay bump in 2012.

Scandals involving government or political employees often raise questions about whether they are entitled to such generous taxpayer-funded benefits.

The debate last surfaced when former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with more than 50 criminal counts of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years. Public outcry led the state pension board to review his benefits, though Sandusky will continue to collect state checks until his trial is complete.

Andrew G. Biggs, a former principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration, said pension benefits are viewed as money in the bank, regardless of who is holding the money.

“At some point you have to consider whether the employee earns this money or the employer does,” said Biggs, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “If you get fired in the private sector, you get to keep the money that’s in your 401(k).”

Frank Keegan, a pension expert at State Budget Solutions, said the employer-employee debate is complicated in the public sector.

“It’s the taxpayer’s money, not the government’s,” he said. “If people violate the public trust, taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay the pension costs for the rest of [the employee’s] life.”

Some state and local governments have passed laws that strip public officials and employees of their pensions if they are convicted of felonies or otherwise violate the public trust.

The most notable case to date has been that of the imprisoned former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. State Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whom the Democratic governor considered appointing to Barack Obama’s Senate seat, stripped Blagojevich of his $65,000 pension following his corruption conviction in 2011.

Beginning in 2019, however, Blagojevich will begin cashing $13,000 checks from the federal government for his congressional pension. He will also be halfway through his 14-year prison term.

The Secret Service is reviewing the conduct of nearly a dozen agents, as well as forcing those allegedly involved to undergo polygraph tests.

Biggs said the government’s exhaustive investigation digs at the root of the problem: office culture. He said the extensive guest list at the wild party—up to 20 military and Secret Service personnel and an equal number of prostitutes—demonstrates an agency culture akin to the General Service Administration’s lavish Las Vegas trip.

“If you want recourse, you don’t go after their pensions; you make it easier to fire federal employees,” he said. “I don’t know what happened over there, but if we give everybody their due process, we are going to get people paying attention.”

Agency officials have told congressional committees in the House and Senate that more heads are likely to roll—and take their lucrative pensions with them.

[Soul Crusher]

Grassley Wants To Know If White House Aides Were Connected To Prostitution Scandal
FoxNews ^ | April 20, 2012
Posted on April 21, 2012 9:21:50 PM EDT by Steelfish

Grassley Wants To Know If White House Aides Were Connected To Prostitution Scandal April 21, 2012

GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is asking the Secret Service whether members of the White House advance team are connected to the Colombian prostitution scandal, considering their “close working relationship” with federal agents.

Grassley, R-Iowa, sent the letter Friday to agency Director Mark Sullivan and acting Inspector General Charles Edwards. He also asked in the letter if the Secret Service is looking at whether the White House communications office also could be involved.

The scandal involving at least one Secret Service agent allegedly bringing a prostitute to his hotel room in Cartagena, Columbia, was made public April 13.

Grassley is concerned about whether White House officials were in the same hotel and if the prostitutes could have had access to their rooms.

The agents were there in advance of President Obama participating in an international trade summit. Twelve Secret Service agents have been implicated in the incident. Six have been ousted, including one who was allowed to retire. The rest are on paid administrative leave while the incident is being investigated and have had their security clearance suspended.

In addition, the Pentagon says the incident also involved 11 military members -- six Army, two Navy explosive ordinance disposal technicians, two Marine dog handlers and an Air Force airman.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday the administration has no reason to think staffers were involved and implied he would not be looking into the matter.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/21/grassley-were-white-house-staff-involved-prostitut


Nice - moving up the chain.   WH staff now involved? 

I'll bet they were scouting male prostitutes for Obama. 

[Soul Crusher]

Representative Peter King: More Secret Service Agents Likely To Leave Agency Over Sex Scandal
Posted:


04/21/2012 3:09 pm Updated: 04/22/2012 1:13 am


WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - Most of the U.S. Secret Service agents accused of misconduct with prostitutes ahead of President Barack Obama's recent visit to Colombia are likely to leave the agency, a top U.S. Republican lawmaker said on Saturday.



Six of 11 employees linked to a night of partying in the coastal city of Cartagena on April 11-12 have left the agency over the scandal, which embarrassed the United States and overshadowed Obama's participation in the Summit of Americas meeting.



"I would think you'll see most of the 11 either resign, retire or will be forced to leave," Representative Peter King, chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview on Fox News.



"I doubt, no matter what happens, you're going to see any of these 11 ever involved in any kind of detail like this again. They basically have to stay out of the public eye, if they stay on the job," King said.



The Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting the president, senior administration officials and other prominent figures, said on Friday that a 12th employee had been implicated in the probe and another had been cleared of "serious misconduct" in Cartagena but would face administrative action.



King, whose committee is also probing the Cartagena incident, said the 12th employee was involved in a separate incident that happened "five or six days before the president arrived."



The New York Republican said he had four investigators on the case and had spoken several times this week with Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about the agency's own investigation.



"We want a full record (of the probe), so at the end we can decide if the Secret Service acted appropriately once they found out about it," King said. Two of the original 11 Secret Service employees involved in the scandal were supervisors, he added.



"They should have been in control of everything. Instead, they were accessories. They were part of it," King said.



"Among those eleven, besides what they did, they also are in trouble, if you will, for what they didn't do. And what they didn't do is report it," King said. (Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Paul Simao)

[Soul Crusher]

White House Communications Agency Under Investigation in Colombia Prostitution Scandal
NextGov ^ | Monday, April 23, 2012 | Bob Brewin





The investigation into the Colombia prostitution scandal has broadened to include the White House Communications Agency, Nextgov has learned.

Laura Williams, a spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency, which manages the White House office that provides the president with secure communications, confirmed that one individual from WHCA is under investigation, but could not provide any more details at this time.


(Excerpt) Read more at nextgov.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

Panetta: Marines punished for prostitute attack
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press – 2 hours ago 
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday three Marines on a U.S. Embassy security team and one embassy staff member were punished for allegedly pushing a prostitute out of a car in Brasilia late last year after a dispute over payment.
The incident is similar, but unrelated, to the scandal involving Secret Service agents at the Summit of Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, before President Barack Obama arrived for a visit.
Panetta, speaking to reporters in Brasilia, says the Marines were pulled out of the country. Two had their ranks reduced. The embassy staffer was removed from his post.
Panetta said he had "no tolerance for that kind of conduct."
"Where it takes place you can be sure that we will act to make sure that they are punished and that that kind of behavior is not acceptable," he said.

According to a defense official, "there were at least two women with the Marines outside a nightclub." The official said it appears that one of the women started a fight in a vehicle, then she was removed from the car and when she tried to re-enter fell to the ground and was injured. The official also said that no charges were filed by Brazilian authorities.

According to another defense official, the embassy staff member was a supervisor. The second official said the woman broke her collarbone when she was pushed from the car in late December.

The official says the embassy tracked the woman down and paid for her medical expenses. But in the wake of the Cartagena scandal, she has hired an attorney and is suing the embassy. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Panetta is touring South America to meet with his counterparts in the region.

[Soul Crusher]

Confidants: Secret Service agents contend misbehavior on trips not unprecedented
The Washington Post ^ | April 24, 2012 | Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura
Posted on April 24, 2012 10:40:54 PM EDT by Free ThinkerNY

Some Secret Service employees accused of misconduct in the Colombian prostitution scandal are privately contending that their conduct didn’t warrant dismissal because senior managers tolerated similar behavior during official trips, according to people familiar with the employees’ thinking.

Several of the men who agreed to resign under pressure last week are also considering reversing their decisions and fighting to keep their jobs, according to the people knowledgeable about the case.

The prospect of Secret Service agents sharing embarrassing tales about rank-and-file employees and superiors partying to the hilt could bring more anguish to an agency reeling from scandal.

Those close to the accused employees said that in an effort to fight for their jobs they could opt to divulge details of how colleagues spent some of their downtime on presidential trips — drinking heavily, visiting strip clubs and cavorting with women for hire.

“Of course it has happened before” said one agent not implicated in the matter, remarking on the Secret Service’s history of occasionally licentious partying. “This is not the first time. It really only blew up in this case because the [U.S. Embassy] was alerted.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

Secret Service Agents: We Were Too Drunk To Have Sex
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Ben Shapiro 2 hours ago 22post a comment 

www.breitbart.com



Last night, President Obama appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s unwatchable late-night show – a show most notable for Fallon’s almost-incredible inability to keep a straight face while telling the world’s least funny jokes – to discuss the Secret Service prostitution scandal. “The Secret Service, these guys are incredible,” Obama said. “They protect me, they protect our girls. A couple of knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from what they do. What they were thinking, I don’t know. That’s why they’re not there anymore.”
But the Secret Service agents in question don’t need Obama’s help n their defense. They’ve got a new one all lined up: they didn’t have sex with the prostitutes because they were too drunk to do so. As the Washington Post reports, “The people familiar with the accused employees said some of them have said there was no sexual activity because the men were so drunk that they fell asleep immediately after bringing the women to their rooms.” This may be the first time in recorded history that the “too drunk to have sex” defense has actually been leveraged.



The Post story also quotes multiple unnamed agents who defended their colleagues, explaining that having sex with prostitutes should have no impact on their ability to do their job; some sources also harkened back to 2009, when Secret Service agents assigned to President Clinton partied it up with strippers. “Some guys could have a good time Wednesday night, and Friday morning they would be on their post, shaved and ready to go,” said one agent.



The White House, of course, has largely covered up the scandal; instead of appointing an independent investigator, they’ve assigned their own person, who then exonerated the White House. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Now would be a good time to apply it, if only to avoid a syphilis outbreak.




________________________ ______________________


Clintigula set the playbook for debauchary   

[240 is Back]

Secret Service Agents: We Were Too Drunk To Have Sex

that is the most awesome line in human history.

[240 is Back]

The White House, of course, has largely covered up the scandal; instead of appointing an independent investigator, they’ve assigned their own person, who then exonerated the White House.

ever heard of the 911 commission?

[Soul Crusher]

EXCLUSIVE: New Secret Service Scandal Centers on Strippers, Prostitutes in El Salvador
 kirotv.com ^ | Apriol 25, 2012 | Staff





Seattle-based Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne (KIROTV- CBS- COX MEDIA GROUP) just returned from El Salvador, where he interviewed a U.S. government subcontractor who worked extensively with the Secret Service advance team (snipers, K-9 and explosives sweeps) in San Salvador prior to President Obama’s trip there in March of 2011.

The eyewitness says he joined about a dozen Secret Service agents and a few U.S. military specialists at a strip club in San Salvador a few days before President Obama and his family arrived in El Salvador to meet with its new president, Mauricio Funes.

This source witnessed the majority of the men drink heavily ("wasted," "heavily intoxicated") at the strip club. He says most of the Secret Service "advance-team" members also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for their cash. Although our source says he told the agents it was a "really bad idea" to take the strippers back to their hotel rooms, several agents bragged that they "did this all the time" and "not to worry about it." Our source says at least two agents had escorts check into their rooms. It is unclear whether the escorts who returned to the hotels were some of the strippers from the same club.

These alleged incidents in El Salvador occurred a full year prior to recent revelations that secret service agents used prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, on a presidential trip this month.

To further confirm information provided about behaviors in El Salvador that reportedly occurred in March of 2011, Halsne interviewed the owner of the San Salvador strip club in which the subcontractor said they visited. The strip club’s owner confirmed a large number of U.S. secret service agents (and some military escorts) “descended on his club” that week prior to President Obama’s visit. He claims agents were there at least three nights in a row. "No surprise to me.

The owner told Halsne his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting FBI and DEA agents. The owner says his reputation for "security" and "privacy" makes him a popular strip club owner with "those who want to be discreet." He told Halsne during a lengthy interview, he doesn’t allow prostitution inside the club and that all his "girls" are at least 18-years-old. He says the girls can do what they want after work, but he discourages them from making contact with customers at other locations.

[Soul Crusher]

Colombia's top diplomat demands apology from President Obama for Secret Service hooker scandal
 
“It is necessary, and I want to hear it from the White House,' says Gabriel Silva
Comments (24)
By Joseph Straw, Alison Gendar AND Larry Mcshane / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Friday, April 27, 2012, 3:00 AM

































































 

LUIS ROBAYO/AFP/Getty Images
 

Colombian ambassador Gabriel Silva wants apology from President Obama on Secret Service Cartagena hooker scandal.
 

Dania Suarez, hooker who claims agent tried to stiff her out of fee.
 

He puts the ass in ambassador.

 Colombia’s angry top diplomat to America wants President Obama to publicly declare that he’s really, really, really sorry for the carnal carnage inflicted on the fine citizens of Cartagena by the Secret Service.

“The U.S. should apologize further,” Gabriel Silva told the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo about the sordid sex scandal that involved a dozen agents and another dozen military personnel.

“It is necessary, and I want to hear it from the White House,” Silva said in his tough talk to a scribe back home.

“A more clear expression of remorse is required to protect the reputation of Cartagena” — though Silva made no mention that scantily clad hookers legally roam the streets of his fair city.

RELATED: FIRST PHOTOS OF COLOMBIA ESCORT IN SECRET SERVICE HOOKER SCANDAL
 
Silva is apparently seeking asylum — from reality.

 Heck, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had no beef with Obama when they stood shoulder-to-shoulder at a joint news conference during a summit in Cartagena — the first time the President addressed the unfolding scandal.

“If it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then, of course, I’ll be angry because my attitude with respect to the Secret Service personnel is no different than what I expect out of my delegation that’s sitting here,” Obama said April 15, two days after the brouhaha came to light.

“We’re representing the people of the United States, and when we travel to another country, I expect us to observe the highest standards because we’re not just representing ourselves.”

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano condemned the “inexcusable” actions of the rogue agents and noted a thorough investigation is ongoing. Punishment has been swift. Two agents were flat-out fired and six were forced to resign. Another was pushed into retirement and three were cleared of misconduct — they still face internal discipline.

 Obama has since deemed the dirty dozen a band of “knuckleheads.”

Even the deputy director of the Secret Service sat down with Silva to apologize to Colombia and Cartagena.

 Silva is most upset about the portrayal of Cartagena. He’s particularly irate over the “superficial, sensationalist” U.S. media coverage that detailed the city’s thriving sex tourism industry. “Unfair,” he declared.

 The ambassador’s demand came as the Secret Service acknowledged its investigation into a report that boozed-up agents partied with prostitutes at an El Salvador strip club before President Obama’s 2011 visit.

 Drunken agents — who, according to hooker Dania Suarez, tried to stiff her on the service fee — bragged during their three-night spree that partying hard and cavorting with hookers was business as usual, according to a stunning report by Seattle’s KIRO-TV.

 The Secret Service, in a memo sent to Capitol Hill, said it was taking the “allegations of misconduct seriously, and will thoroughly look into this matter,” the Daily News learned Thursday.The memo added that the agency has heard no reports of anything similar to the debauchery discovered before Obama’s visit this month to Colombia.

 The agency has conducted 919 foreign advance trips in the last two years.

“As part of the Secret Service’s extensive investigation, it is examining this allegation,” said Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), head of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

“This certainly does not mean that there is any validity to it — just that they are looking into all allegations.”

agendar@nydailynews.com


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/colombia-top-diplomat-demands-apology-president-obama-secret-service-hooker-scandal-article-1.1068465#ixzz1tF8JabFr

[Soul Crusher]

Secret Service problems much bigger than prostitutes
By Ronald Kessler, Published: May 1

So far, the biggest scandal in the history of the Secret Service involves agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia . But the media have largely ignored a much bigger scandal at the agency: a lax management culture that condones cutting corners, directly endangering the life of the president.

A prime example, revealed in my book on life inside the agency, is that when pressured, Secret Service managers tell agents to let people into events without requiring that they pass through magnetometers or metal detectors. When an event is about to start and people are still waiting to enter, annoyed campaign staffers and both Bush and Obama White House staffers have routinely told the Secret Service to stop screening people and let them in. Backed by senior Secret Service management, agents comply.

It gets worse. When Vice President Biden threw out the first pitch April 6, 2009, at the Baltimore Orioles’ season opener, the Secret Service had not screened with magnetometers any of the more than 40,000 fans at Camden Yards. Biden’s attendance was announced beforehand, yet the vice president was not wearing a bulletproof vest under his navy polo shirt as he stood on the pitcher’s mound.

“A gunman or gunmen, from anywhere in the stands, could have gotten off multiple rounds before we could have gotten in the line of fire,” a current agent, outraged that the Secret Service would be so reckless, told me.

The Secret Service suspends screening at one in five major presidential and vice presidential events, according to another current agent. Think about that: A terrorist could bring in a grenade and take out President Obama or Biden.

Other examples of corner-cutting include management not insisting that agents pass firearms requalification and physical fitness tests. The agency covers that up by routinely asking agents to fill out their own test scores.

One agent on the president’s detail regularly fails handgun tests but has not been removed, agents with firsthand knowledge have told me. Another agent on the detail is so out of shape that she cannot open the heavy doors to exit the president’s limousine, I’m told.

Instead of removing her from the president’s detail and requiring her to pass the fitness tests that all agents are supposed to take every three months, Secret Service management has told drivers to try to park so it would be easier for her to swing open the vehicle door.

Equally shocking, the Secret Service is not equipped with the most powerful firearms, such as the Colt M4 carbine used by the FBI and even Amtrak police.

The lax management culture filters down to agents at every level. When Dick Cheney’s daughter Mary was under protection, she insisted that her agents take her friends to restaurants. They rightly refused. But she threw a fit and got her detail leader removed over the incident. Asked for comment for my book, she told me: “These stories are simply not true, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for the men and women of the Secret Service.”

Management’s decision to undercut its agent, which I confirmed with several sources, sends a message to Secret Service Uniformed Division officers at the White House gates: If they turn away fashionably dressed people such as Tareq and Michaele Salahi or Carlos Allen because they are not on the guest list for a state dinner, and it turns out they should have been on the list, the officers could be in trouble because their own managers may not back them.

Similarly, the lax management culture tells agents that it’s fine to hire prostitutes when traveling abroad, even though that puts them at risk of blackmail by a terrorist or foreign intelligence service.

Since I broke the Colombia story in The Post, many have asked me if it surprised me. It doesn’t. While Secret Service agents overall are dedicated and will take a bullet for the president, they have been let down by their management.

Despite the scandals and the dozens of examples of corner cutting, President Obama has repeatedly expressed confidence in the agency under Director Mark Sullivan. That is as reckless as President John F. Kennedy’s refusal to let agents ride on the rear running board of his limousine in Dallas. If agents had been there, they would have jumped on Kennedy after the first shot — which was not fatal — and saved his life.

When Obama took office, threats against the president were up 400 percent from when George W. Bush was in office. They have since returned to about 3,000 a year, roughly the number as when Bush was president.

The Secret Service has been derelict in its duty to the American people and its own brave agents. It should not take another tragedy to bring about reform.

[garebear]

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