Post by Hoosier Hillbilly on Oct 5, 2015 8:28:56 GMT -5
Nothing illustrates so well how rotten the Secret Service’s management culture is as an assistant director’s effort to retaliate against a member of Congress by advocating leaking embarrassing information about him.
Referring to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the agency’s chief critic in Congress, Assistant Director Edward Lowery wrote in a March 31 email to the Secret Service assistant director in charge of congressional and public affairs, “Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out,” according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. “Just to be fair,” he added.
The information in question was that Mr. Chaffetz had once applied for a job as a Secret Service agent and had been turned down. Two days after Mr. Lowery sent his email, The Daily Beast ran a story reporting that Mr. Chaffetz had once been rejected for a job at the service. Later that evening, the Washington Post reported additional details.
Besides abusing his position, Mr. Lowery and dozens of others who accessed Mr. Chaffetz’ file or circulated information from it violated the Privacy Act, which protects information about individuals in government files, the DHS report flatly stated. The fact that anyone in Secret Service management would push to leak confidential agency information to punish a critic who is trying to reform the agency is shocking enough. But it also confirms what I wrote in an epilogue to my book “The First Family Detail”: that President Obama’s decision to name veteran agent Joseph Clancy as Secret Service director guarantees that the agency’s scandals will continue.
Read more:
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/4/ronald-kessler-the-secret-services-rotten-culture/
Referring to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the agency’s chief critic in Congress, Assistant Director Edward Lowery wrote in a March 31 email to the Secret Service assistant director in charge of congressional and public affairs, “Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out,” according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. “Just to be fair,” he added.
The information in question was that Mr. Chaffetz had once applied for a job as a Secret Service agent and had been turned down. Two days after Mr. Lowery sent his email, The Daily Beast ran a story reporting that Mr. Chaffetz had once been rejected for a job at the service. Later that evening, the Washington Post reported additional details.
Besides abusing his position, Mr. Lowery and dozens of others who accessed Mr. Chaffetz’ file or circulated information from it violated the Privacy Act, which protects information about individuals in government files, the DHS report flatly stated. The fact that anyone in Secret Service management would push to leak confidential agency information to punish a critic who is trying to reform the agency is shocking enough. But it also confirms what I wrote in an epilogue to my book “The First Family Detail”: that President Obama’s decision to name veteran agent Joseph Clancy as Secret Service director guarantees that the agency’s scandals will continue.
Read more:
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/4/ronald-kessler-the-secret-services-rotten-culture/