Secret Service Prostitution Scandal: Obama Responds to the Controversy with President Santos (2012)

thefilmarchive.org April 15, 2012 United States Secret Service personnel, who were in the country to guard the president, brought prostitutes into their hotel before the president arrived. Though Colombian police said that five people were involved, a preliminary investigation by the United States Southern Command[24] suggested that 11 people could have been involved. They also had their top-secret security clearances revoked, had to turn in their agency issued BlackBerrys, were sent back from the summit and placed on administrative leave.[25][26][27][28] The decision to send the agents back to the United States was initiated by the head of the Secret Service’s field office in Miami, Paula Reid, who served as liaison between the Secret Service, local governments and other US agencies involved in preparing for Obama’s visit to Colombia, after she received rumours of an unpaid prostitute knocking on doors and yelling in the hallway of a neighbouring hotel.[29] White House spokesman Jay Carney added that “Sullivan acted quickly in response to this incident, and he’s overseeing an investigation as we speak. This incident needs to be investigated, and it is being investigated. We need to see what the investigation reveals. We’re not going to speculate about the conclusions it might reach.”[28] On 25 April, United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified in a Senate hearing on the activities of the Homeland Security Department which oversees …