The March 4 incident was witnessed by on-duty officers who tried to arrest and test the blood alcohol levels of Mark Connolly, an officer on Obama's detail, and George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor. Instead, a supervisor ordered them let the two go, sources told the Washington Post.
According to witnesses, the agents' car had its lights flashing when they were stopped and showed their badges at an area that had been taped off during the investigation of a suspicious package. The car was then driven through the tape and into some temporary barricades.
The agents had come from a party given for outgoing spokesman for the Secret Service, Edwin Donovan.
The Secret Service was "aware of the allegations of misconduct involving two of our employees," agency spokesman Brian Leary confirmed. “If misconduct is identified, appropriate action will be taken based on established rules and regulations.”
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) March 11, 2015
The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security is carrying out the investigation into the incident due to the high rank of the agents involved.
At Home & Abroad, Lapses in Security & Judgement
The spokesman to whom the agents were bidding farewell on the night of the incident had spent his two years as the mouthpiece for the agency, explaining seemingly endless embarrassing incidents and misconduct scandals to the public and the media.
This isn't the first time drunken behavior has cast the Service in unflattering light. In October 2012, a member of the president's security detail was found in a drunken stupor on a sidewalk in Miami, Florida following a presidential visit. In March 2014, another drunken officer caused a car crash in South Florida right before the president arrived for a trip with the First Family.
And agents have caused embarrassment abroad as well. Take, for instance, the 2012 scandal involving several agents and US military servicemembers accused of hiring prostitutes while in Colombia preparing for a visit by President Obama. And in March 2014, an agent that was part of the detail for the president's trip to the Netherlands for a nuclear security summit was found passed out drunk in an Amsterdam hotel.
— Ben Pershing (@benpershing) March 11, 2015
In a major security breach in September 2014, an intruder jumped a fence and managed to get all the way into the East Room of the White House before being stopped. Around the same time, it emerged that an armed private security guard with a criminal record had been allowed to ride in an elevator with the President.
In the wake of those lapses, former agency director Julia Pierson resigned in October 2014, and in January four senior executives were fired while two more opted for retirement.
"Change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct business… I am certain any of our senior executives will be productive and valued assets either in other positions at the Secret Service of the department," the agency's acting director Joseph P. Clancy said in a statement about the management shake-up.
A Department of Homeland Security panel that investigated the agency concluded it was “starved for leadership.”
— Lourae (@Flaaaaalala) March 11, 2015
