Secret Service Suspected of Drinking, Crashing Car

As new details about Netherlands debauch come to light
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 27, 2014 9:35 AM CDT
Secret Service Suspected of Drinking, Crashing Car
Secret Service personnel wait the arrival of President Barack Obama on Air Force One at Miami International Airport on Thursday, March 20, 2014 in Miami.   (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

The Secret Service's Netherlands debauch wasn't the agency's first questionable incident this month: Two counter-sniper officers were involved in a car accident on March 7, during President Obama's visit to Miami, and they were suspected of drinking, multiple sources tell the Washington Post. The driver, however, passed a field sobriety test and was not arrested. But the two officers were sent home, just as the Netherlands crew was, though they continue to work for the agency.

The incident put managers on high alert ahead of the Netherlands trip, and they warned agents to stay out of trouble. The Post story includes a few new details about that incident—like the fact that two hotel employees had to carry the agent found passed out in a hallway into his room. The lapse is drawing sharp rebukes from several top senators, the AP reports, with Homeland Security Chair Tom Carper saying he was "troubled" by the report, and ranking Republican Tom Coburn calling an earlier report finding no cultural problems at the CIA "a cover-up and a whitewash." (More Secret Service stories.)

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