Two high-level Secret Service agents are under investigation for allegedly driving a government car into White House security barricades after drinking at a late-night party last week, the Washington Post reported Wednesday evening. The agents under investigation are Mark Connolly, second-in-command on the president’s security detail and George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor in the Washington field office, the Post said.
Agency spokesman Brian Leary told the paper he was “aware of the allegations of misconduct involving two of our employees,” but would not confirm the nature of the allegations. According to witnesses of the March 11 incident, officers on duty wanted to arrest the pair and subject them to field sobriety tests but were instructed by their supervisor to send them home. The investigation has been assigned to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, Leary said. The Secret Service, formerly a branch of the Treasury Department, has been among the 22 departments and agencies in Homeland Security since the DHS was created in the reorganization of 2002.
Leary said officials have briefed Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy on the incident. Clancy was chosen by President Obama last month to head the agency after former Director Julia Pierson and other top officials resigned after a string of embarrassing incidents, most recently when an intruder scaled the White House fence and made it inside the executive mansion before he was apprehended.
Officers on duty who witnessed the March 11 incident told the Post the car’s overhead flashing lights were on when it ran through security tape and crashed into barriers. The agents then showed their badges and tried to enter the grounds through a section that had been closed off during an investigation of a suspicious package, witnesses said. Secret Service rules prohibit turning on flashing lights without a security reason and driving a government vehicle after drinking alcohol.
The agents had been attending a party at a downtown Washington bar to honor the retirement of departing Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan, the Post reported. Depending on what the investigation shows, there may soon be at least two more Secret Service personnel departing the agency.
