Once again, the agency charged with protecting the president shows a (no longer) stunning lack of professionalism among some of its members:
Three Secret Service agents responsible for protecting President Obama in Amsterdam this week were sent home and put on administrative leave Sunday after going out for a night of drinking, according to three people familiar with the incident. One of the agents was found drunk and passed out in a hotel hallway, the people said.
The hotel staff alerted the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands after finding the unconscious agent Sunday morning, a day before Obama arrived in the country, according to two of the people. The embassy then alerted Secret Service managers on the presidential trip, which included the agency’s director, Julia Pierson.
This, on the heels of the infamous Cartegena incident in 2012, raises some disturbing questions – questions that should be answered with all deliberate speed:
- Why did these agents feel free to do this after rules were tightened after Cartegena specifically to prevent this behavior?
- Is there a problem within the Counter Assault Team (not to mention within the Secret Service as a whole) with regards to this particular president?
- What specific steps can be taken to insure that this never happens again?
This incident is damning, and should be of concern to everyone regardless of party. We’ll see…
My Ready Room 
I heard this story on the radio as I drove to work. Interesting that although W made an unplanned stop near where protesters had been confined, that a similar group of RWNJ sheep praising W in the same area were NOT asked to/forced to leave.
Also, you could get run from W’s events for carrying signs, while PBO has had to deal with morons with GUNS. Nope no hypocrisy here at all…