Secret Service agents watch as President Barack Obama leaves on Air Force One. Matthew Holst/AP
Two Secret Service Agents Removed from Obama Protection Detail
Alleged misconduct comes as DHS is preparing to unveil results of an investigation into the Secret Service's culture.
Two Secret Service agents responsible for overseeing the security detail for President Obama were quietly removed from their roles earlier this year after multiple allegations of misconduct.
The agents prompted an internal investigation, according to the Washington Post's scoop on yet another story of (alleged) bad behavior at the agency. Thanks to a notorious incident last year involving several Secret Service agents, lots of alcohol, and some prostitutes in Colombia, the agency's reputation is still on shaky ground. The Post's report, citing four anonymous sources, comes as the Homeland Security Department prepares to release the results of an investigation into the Secret Service's culture, prompted by the incident in Colombia.
The Post's Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura explain that a senior supervisor named Ignacio Zamora Jr. drew some attention to himself when he tried to break into a woman's room at the Hay-Adams this past May. Zamora claimed that he needed to get back into the room, which he'd recently visited, because he accidentally left a bullet from his service weapon inside. The Secret Service looked into it, only to discover that Zamora and fellow supervisor Timothy Barraclough had sent a series of sexually suggestive messages to a female subordinate. Both agents have since lost their Obama details.