The Secret Service Partied Too Much in Amsterdam
That nonstop party that is the people entrusted with protecting the life of our nation's president raged on in Amsterdam last weekend. Three Secret Service agents were sent back to the United States and put on administrative leave after a night of drinking, the Washington Post reports.
The agents were said to be members of the elite Counter Assault Team, a special tactical unit that protects the president if he comes under attack. They got busted when one got too drunk and passed out in the hotel hallway on Sunday morning, where he or she was found by hotel staff. The hotel told on them to the U.S. Embassy, which then ratted them out to the Secret Service director. Obama visited the Netherlands the next day, where he took in an art museum, possibly enjoying Rembrandt's "The Night Watch."
The Secret Service spokesman confirmed that three employees were sent home for "disciplinary reasons," but wouldn't elaborate on what those reasons were.
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This is, of course, not the first time a secret service agent has gotten in trouble for drinking too much. In 2012, several were fired after getting caught drinking and soliciting prostitutes in Colombia, leading to new rules being instituted that prohibited agents from drinking 10 hours before a shift and only in "moderate amounts" when off-duty. Soliciting prostitutes was already against the rules.
Last year, another Washington Post report claimed that agents misbehaved in at least 17 countries in recent years, including Thailand, where one agent missed a flight because he was drunk and hanging out in a brothel.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/03/the-secret-service-partied-too-much-in-amsterdam/359599/
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