A new report from an internal investigator says Secret Service officials had "no justification" for diverting special protective personnel for the President to help monitor a neighborhood dispute involving a fellow employee - 50 minutes away from the White House.
"This constituted a serious lapse in judgment," said Homeland Security Department Inspector General John Roth, who found that the special "Prowler" team of Secret Service agents were diverted away from the White House at least five times in July of 2011.
"“These agents, who were there to protect the President and the White House,
were improperly diverted for an impermissible purpose," said Roth.
In a memo sent to the Homeland Security Secretary, Roth said there was no reason for the "Prowler" team to be sent to an employee's home in southern Maryland, after she had been involved in a dispute with a neighbor.
"The Secret Service’s mission is to protect the President of the United States, and not to involve itself in an employee’s purely private dispute best handled by the local police," Roth concluded.
At least two of the days when the Secret Service team went to this employee's home to perform a 'welfare check,' President Obama was at the White House.
You can read today's press release here and the longer memo is posted on the DHS website.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
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