More Secret Service Issues Surface
It looks like another report of bad behavior by the Secret Service has surfaced. And this time, it’s a bit more troublesome than the last one.
This new report involves the POTUS protective detail operating on Martha’s Vineyard – including the Counter Assault and Counter Sniper teams. And it includes a clear allegation that the Secret Service ignored or “lost” at least one report of agent misbehavior, as well as indications that local law enforcement may have helped keep things “quiet”.
The “bad” behaviors alleged run the gamut from letting local children see/touch Secret Service weapons (oh, the horror!) to hard off-duty partying to loss of credentials to disclosing sensitive operational details. The first two? Meh. The last two? Uh, different story.
The article is relatively long, and includes quotations from named witnesses. It seems credible.
A few scattered incidents here and there are what you’d expect in any 4400-person organization. But you wouldn’t expect to find the Secret Service playing fast and loose with info regarding operations. And we’ve now seen reports of more than a few scattered incidents here and there.
It’s beginning to look like there might well be a leadership problem at the Secret Service. A serious leadership problem.
Category: Pointless blather, Who knows
It’s not just a leadership problem within the Secret Service, it’s a leadership problem in the entire federal government.
A leadership problem at the Secret Service?
No, I suspect that they’re just demoralized by the chronic screw-ups in all of the leadership positions in this current administration, like, for example, bumbling, incompetent twits Geithner, Napolidumbo, Panetta, Holder, Clinton and, of course, Obama himself to name a few.
A fish rots from the head down. We’ve got a POTUS who doesn’t have ANY executive, managerial or leadership skills, absolutely no experience whatsoever, and the presidency, the highest office in the land isn’t an occupation to get on-the-job training.
For which we can thank the fools who elected that empty suit, street hustler and pretentious, decadent dilletante … and who will reelect him, even though he and his administration of chronic screw-ups have been a disaster.
Some would say that the lunatics are running the asylum.
Others would say that those lunatics, aka, Liberals are
so immoral thar rather than elevating themselves, they
are determined to drag the rest of us down to their level.
Liberals aren’t just very immoral, They are evil, also.
You have to have leadership before you have a leadership problem
Should we really be outraged? Maybe if we’re really honest w/ ourselves than we should suspect this stuff is rediculously commonplace. Even people with special “license to kill” skills are just regular Joes who love porn, booze, strippers,money,good food, blow jobs, masturbation, and just generally having a good time.
Maureen Dowd/NY Post had articles about SS recently:
Secret Service’s 229-page log reveals agents’ porn, wiretap, embezzlement and drunken misdeeds. The Secret Service traveling road show is dubbed the “Secret Circus”. Want to know when that moniker was coined? Around early 1960?s. President JFK’s advance SS protection team got to Dallas in November 1963 and almost immediately started boozing at bars and cohorting w/strippers.Everything went back to hotel rooms for rowdy gay old time to early wee morning hours.
Former Agent Ronald Kessler has stated in interviews that SS agents are not being required to pass firearms skill tests or physical fitness assessments. He was shocked to discover some agents are noticeably obese and have difficulty with even moderate physical exertion.
Already covered here, Devtun: http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=30353
At the begining of this term there was some noise about the asset even using the usual protection detail. He had his own and expected the assigned detail to take their direction from them and distance themselves from what they were trained to do. Last I heard, it was still dicey.
Yes, there has always (at least since the 60’s but mostly likely well before that) been the work hard/play hard ethic. (Please note that “work hard” is first, because it always was. Off duty you got to play.) Not a big deal at all until all this pc crap came into being.
Wondering just how much of this coming to light is true, being blown out of proportion, leaked unnecessarily (and for political gain somehow), the result of boredom and a bunch or other questions.
Devtun @ #5 – I’m skeptical of your allegations,
which are probably exaggerations and distortions.
The Secret Service Agents of my acquaintance are
fine, upstanding family men – not womanizers.
I was under the impression that Federal Agents losing their credentials resulted in pretty much an automatic firing. If that’s true with the Secret Service there must be quite the drug deal going on in whatever office it happened in.
Brian #8,
Majority of SS agents are probably awesomely good at their trade and are upstanding family men when at homestation. However, they are just red blooded normal human beings with same weakness for vice at end of the day. When SS are sent away to exotic locales around the world-do you really know what your agents are up to? Do many let their hair down & act out like rockstars? I would say chances are above average. SS are not alone in scandal.
In mid 1980’s many members of elite Delta Force & Seal Team Six were cashiered out of the service or sent to prison for
massive defrauding of Gov’t w/ phony travel expenses & various weapons/equipment purchasing scams–might have gone unnoticed except the fact a few operators stepped forward and confessed to misdeeds. Delta & ST6 have also been accused of boorish behavior similiar to what Secret Service is experiencing. No matter how “special” people are – nobody is infallible-they are just regular people like rest of us.
You’re entitled to your opinions, guy, as long as you realize
that they’re just that; your opinions. Ain’t America grand?
Devtun, what are you talking about? Any references for any team members or Delta going to prison?
As for the USSS…this stuff isn’t commonplace, it’s a couple of guys making bad decisions, but because it’s an election year it has turned into a witch hunt.
Did you pull that entire second paragraph in post #8 from Dowd? Provide a link please because Kessler was never an agent. He’s a journalist with a bone to pick.
Also, how about not calling USSS agents “SS” agents.
Brian #11,
229 page logbook documenting various SS agent “incidents” and agents getting caught with hookers in Columbia aren’t opinions. Former agent David Chaney (Agent Horndog) who was on Sarah Palin’s protection detail going on his Facebook page & remarking “he was checking out” Gov. Palin & posting photos ain’t an opinion – he got caught. He also was implicated in Columbia Scandal as detail leader – thats no opinion either.
Devtun, but is it truly an endemic issue or is it a couple knuckleheads like Chaney who’ve tainted their colleagues by association?
Devtun, who said he was a detail leader in Columbia? You are mixing fact with fiction and can’t seem to separate the two.
#14 – Think your on to something there, Ann.
What the hell is an SS Agent?? Not a term I recognize even from 1930’s Germany. While we don’t always know around here what to call something by a proper name, once told, we try to conform.
Unless we are just trolling and don’t care if we are taken seriously or not.
Ann–I’m huge fan of Secret Service (demanding/stressful job). With more news reports of past incidents coming to light doesn’t sound like a mere isolated one off–systemic?
Edward 1811:
-I stand corrected w/ Kessler he was a journalist.
-Agent Chaney & Agent Stokes were very senior supervisors sent to Columbia to supervise dozens of younger agents–I thought that was considered a detail leader? If it has a different job title-I respecfully correct myself.
-Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down, Orr Kelly’s Brave Men Dark Waters,& Richard Marcinko’s Rogue Warrior covered Delta or ST6 scandal. MSG(ret)Stan Goff, former Delta Force operator covered scandal in one of his numerous articles. CMDR(ret) Marcinko,former commander Seal Team 6 got sent to prison.
ST6 plankowner former Hospital Corpsman John Mason got probation instead for agreeing to cooperate in investigation of Seal Team Six.
-OK, Secret Service is USSS.
– I’ll exercise more care w/ fact checking. I admire all the guys/gals that do the rough/dirty work. Just need to be careful that they are human beings w/ all the temptations of committing misconduct.
Silly, idle gossip, Devtun. I’m yawning.
Guys the WH needs the light off of their failures especially Eric Holder. Employment down,ETC .
#9, I work at a Federal Law Enforcement Agency. Losing one’s creds doesn’t necessarily automatically trigger a dismissal. But it is SUPPOSED to trigger an automatic investigation. It certainly does where I work, and if that investigation determines that there is any “willful negligence” involved, you MAY lose your job.
I imagine a determination is based on the specific negligence involved, the job (support vs. operational), and probably a bit of CYA involved when it comes to seniority, etc.
Trashed rental houses, including finding bullet holes in the house, is the reason that multiple people in MV were quoted as refusing to rent to Obama’s detail in the future. Perhaps where you live it’s common for cops to come home drunk and shoot up their house, it isn’t in most places.
Kevin, where are the police reports? I find it hard to believe that repeated incidents involving multiple gunshots, things being broken, and the ruckus that would probably lead to this would never result in any citations?
How did neighbors and police let this go on for two separate summers? Why would a homeowner rent out a house again to the people who supposedly had the police called on them repeatedly, trashed the house, and shot up the furniture? Wouldn’t the entire neighborhood be pitching a fit instead of apparently just one household?
Ann,
Fox News article referenced several real estate agents who mentioned to reporters about a child finding a spent shell casing on lawn of one of the houses Secret Service rented. Didn’t mention any bullet holes in the houses, however homeowners discovered ammunition left behind after the agents vacated. Kevin is spot on about extensive damage to some of the rentals including destroyed antique furniture &
ruined expensive wood flooring.
In fairness to Secret Service, apparently some of the Agents treated rental homes with great care & respect-zero damage/ cleaning up after themselves. So kind of 50/50 split about homeowners willing to rent to Secret Service again.
Brian needs to read the items SF authors at Blackfive have posted. Maybe Marcinko’s book will shed some light as well. The response to the Columbian “scandal” isn’t that Secret Service agents don’t buy prostitutes…instead, it’s that the buying of prostitutes isn’t a big deal.
I’m sure there’s agents that don’t prefer the hard partying lifestyle too.
@ #24, Devtun says, “Kevin is spot on about extensive damage to some of the rentals including destroyed antique furniture & ruined expensive wood flooring.”
LOL, yeah, right. Since when do prudent landlords put expensive antiques in their rental properties? Get real. Old furniture? Perhaps. But because it is old, that doesn’t make it antique. Why do I suspect that those landlords are Liberals? They’re such liars. They don’t have any credibility.
Brian #26,
Remember most of the MV residents are quite well to do, and many homes are seasonal rentals – homeowners actually live there rest of the time. The mention of antique furniture and wood flooring is what was reported on that liberal bastion FOX News-I have no way of proving or disproving the claims, but MV has wealthy residents–so doesn’t seem unreasonable that houses would have some high end furnishing to attract / keep renters happy. MV probably had very little Secret Service presence during President G.W. Bush’s reign-wasn’t his cup of tea. When Obama became president and decided he liked MV, the residents were unprepared for mass influx of agents and that many liked to party hard past midnight. Who knew?
I’m no liberal, but what is w/ the venom against liberals? How are they liars and have no credibility? Political Ideology doesn’t determine a person’s decency and trust worthiness. Former Democratic Governor & Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska was a fmr. Navy SEAL & Medal of Honor recipient.
He is an admired public figure for integrity. He could just as well have been a Republican/conservative so what? don’t matter.
LOL, Bob Kerry was/is a weasel. I would tell him so to his face.
After parents unlock basement door & provide you Greyhound bus fare I presume?
Spoken like a true lib.
You should be flattered, Devtun.
I broke one of my strictest rules.
I usually don’t argue with fools.
BTW, fool, Fox never reported any such story.
Brian 31/32
You broke one of your strictest rules? So what other less strict rules/laws have you broken?
-Robbing 7-11?
-Stealing puppies from pet store?
-Stealing women’s underwear?
-Stealing coworkers lunches from fridge?
-Hacking school computer to change grades from Fs to As?
-You don’t happen to know Jimmy Hoffa’s burial site?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/19/exclusive-secret-service-agents-partied-like-rock-stars-on-obamas-vineyard-vacation/#ixzz1yFl6r5sZ
I am sure that your bizarre comments make perfect sense
to you. But they won’t make sense to any rational person.
BTW, I don’t argue with morons, psychos or assholes either.
Now don’t take offense. I meant that in the nicest way. 🙂
@ #27 Devtun said that he is not a Liberal,
implying, also, that Liberals are not liars.
He, he, he, Can’t make this stuff up, folks.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/19/exclusive-secret-service-agents-partied-like-rock-stars-on-obamas-vineyard-vacation/#ixzz1yFl6r5sZ
All that I read there was silly, idle gossip which Fox had the good sense to neither belabor, nor run on the evening news in prime time. It’s a non-story. Certainly not one that is newsworthy.
Have you ever been to Martha’s Vineyard? For 50 years now, it has been a playground for successive generations of the neuvo riche, aka, scoundrels, liberals and other white trash. So who can be surprised that a bunch of bitchy and gossipy yentas are whining about having Secret Service agents in their midst. Those are people to whom ostentatiousness, pretentiousness and decadence are classy. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what their opinions are about anything. The Clintons and the Obamas fit right in with those creeps.
I was more offended by the trashy behavior of the Clintons, which was all over the news. Never mind the extent to which Billy boy shirked his responsibilities and endangered this country. Of which there is no evidence that the Secret Service has done.
Brian: no, the Fox article contained accounts from the property owners. That’s not gossip, it’s firsthand knowledge.
Hey, we “get it” that you’re a USSS fan. But even the best organizations can have a few shitheads that slip through screening, or can end up with bad leadership and go temporarily off the rails.
One or two isolated incidents is to be expected in a large organization over time. But this is really beginning to look like a it’s been repeated bad behavior continued over a protracted period of time. That needs to be corrected. One or two public examples of leadership wielding the sledgehammer is all that should be required.
Hopefully USSS leadership tightens things up – or gets replaced by some who will. It seems to be needed.
“That’s not gossip, it’s firsthand knowledge.”
And THAT, Hondo, was a screwy rationale. Wow,
guy, you sure pulled that one out of your ass.
Too funny.
In making a conjecture that those homeowners are Liberals, it is a certainty, also, that they are chronic whiners, complainers, and, oh yeah, bitchy and gossipy yentas, also. And what do gossipy yentas do? They lie, exaggerate and distort.
“Firsthand knowledge”, huh? LOL. Get real. You’re funny.
BTW, I’d like to hear the agents’ side of the story. I’ll bet it goes to the issue of personality clashes and their conflicts with members of this administration who are now back-stabbing them. Liberals are so treacherous and they are such liars.
…., and they are so devious, distracting you with their
right hand, while stealing your wallet with their left hand.
And BTW, Hondo, no, you do [not] “get it”. My affinity for employees of the Secret Service with whom I’m acquainted is iirelevant. You insult my intelligence by being so presumptuous and so nervy as to believe that I’m incapable of being objective.
You’re the one who is taking a one-sided position.
In knowing Obama and members of his administration as I do, I suspect that there is more to this story than their shills in the MSM are reporting, and that perhaps, just perhaps a more accurate scenaario is that in perceiving that they have been slighted or offended or admonished by members of that agency, they are gettinng back at them by using shills to do their dirty work for them. But that’s just a suspicion, mind you. In any case, you aren’t paying attention if you believe that Fox is any more fair and balanced than the rest of the MSM is. This is a distraction. The outrageous misbehavior of Obama and Holder and others in this administration should be the issue.
Brian: I’ve looked over some of your past posts here at TAH. Someone who unilaterally decided he was qualified to give a “Civic 101” lecture to folks here has no standing to accuse anyone else of being overly “nervy”. Perhaps you’ve heard of the term “hypocrisy”. If not, look in the dictionary.
Act like a USSS fanboi (or any other kind of biased fanboi, for that matter) here at TAH and you’ll probably get called on it. If you don’t want to be accused of such, pay more attention as to how you’re coming across in print. That may not have been your intent, but that is exactly how you came across here. And if you personally are friends with any USSS personnel, or work for them yourself/have family who do or did, you may be defending them subconsciously and not realize it.
There have been at least 4 different and very credible reports, in multiple media outlets, of widely separated USSS misbehavior at grossly different locations (Columbia prostitution scandal, Central America ditto, the USSS IG complaint log, this latest at Martha’s Vineyard). And all but the IG complaint log appear to be substantiated by firsthand witness accounts. That’s IMO too many to be dismissed as “just boys being boys” or as aberrations. Rather, that old saw “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” appears to be apropos. YMMV.
One last point: a firsthand witness account of something is not hearsay. It may be incorrectly reported by the press – but firsthand testimony is not hearsay. I’ll also observe that a rental property owner whose property has been damaged is probably the most credible source as to just what damage occurred, and also likely knows exactly to whom the property was rented at time of damage. That’s particularly true of seasonal rentals which are occupied by the owner during the rest of the year.
Suggest you step back and get a big steaming hot cup of perspective – after first taking a good hard look in your mirror.
You’re not a type to reassess, man-up and admit you
were wrong, and I’m not going to change my position
on this issue. So let’s agree to disagree on this one?
Which is not to say that I am not receptive
to calm, well-reasoned, rational arguments.
I will admit, though, that I like to bust the
balls of hotheads by becoming intransigent. 🙂
I’ll gladly “man up” and reassess my opinion/admit error if and when evidence convinces me I’m wrong, Brian. I haven’t seen any such evidence yet, though. And what I have seen from multiple sources leads me to believe the position I’ve articulated above.
Now, do you want to offer some evidence to the contrary? Do you have any such evidence, or a plausible alternate explanation other than “the sources are lying”, for the multiple reports recently of serious USSS misbehavior? Or are you simply going to continue to insist that multiple independent reports about various instances of USSS misconduct at various locations and different times are all mistakes or lies? If so, I’ll take that as an indication that you’re the one who’s closed-minded on the subject.
LOL, I can live with that.
Its author is thinking, if the ditzy topic of this
thread gets to 100 comments, I think I’ll scream!
BTW, you’ve got it bassackwards.
Reassess what I said. THEN man-up.
I’d like some of whatever you’re
smoking, dude.
I have reassessed what you said. My opinion hasn’t changed. You haven’t made any argument worth listening to to date. Essentially, all you’ve done is
1) deny reality (“You’re wrong, that didn’t happen!”), such as your comments 19 (Chaney’s involvement in Columbia was reported by time) and 32 (reported by Fox, with link in basic article); or
2) change the subject when provided with documentary evidence you’re wrong (see your comments 26, 39, multiple others), or
3)- make personal attacks/extraneous comments (comments 31, 34, 39, 44, 49, others).
You’ve also neglected so far to provide any evidence whatsoever for your thesis, or even to clearly articulate what that thesis is.
When you decide to make a logical argument backed with supporting facts, I’ll assess that argument. But you haven’t yet done that. All you’ve done so far is to act like a spoiled child who’s been told he can’t have his way, and thrown a tantrum.
Want to be treated like an adult? Try acting like one. Especially when you’re trying to change someone’s opinion.