Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy will lay out his most forceful argument to date that the latest allegations of misconduct involving two senior agents have been overblown and exaggerated.
Clancy plans to tell a Senate Committee Thursday afternoon that he has reviewed the surveillance video available and that there was no crash on the White House grounds the night of March 4.
“Based on the footage, previous reports of a crash are inaccurate — there was no crash,” he will say, according to a copy of the prepared testimony obtained by the Washington Examiner. “The video shows the vehicle entering the White House complex at a speed of approximately 1-2 mph, and pushing aside a plastic barrel. There was no damage to the vehicle.”
Initial reports of the incident either said the agents’ vehicle crashed into a barricade or said some form of accident had occurred on the White House grounds that night and described the car as disturbing an ongoing investigation into a suspicious package by running through a cordoned off perimeter and possibly hitting the suspicious package in question.
The agency has erased or overwritten several of the surveillance tapes of the night in question, Clancy told House members Wednesday, leaving less-than-complete evidence of what happened that night of March 4. When there is no suspicious activity or any other reason, such as alleged agent or officer misconduct, it is standard operating procedure for the agency to overwrite the tapes within 72 hours, according to the agency.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, on Wednesday said news that the Secret Service had erased several of the surveillance tapes from that night alarmed him and several other members of the Oversight and Government Reform panel. Chaffetz is still demanding that the agency turn over additional surveillance tapes, and it’s unclear whether forensics experts can extract original versions of the overwritten tapes.
“I don’t think anyone in that room could believe it,” Chaffetz told CBS News, who first reported about the destruction of the tapes.
“That’s just a stunning revelation that 72 hours after they make a tape, they destroy it? That doesn’t make any sense to us.
“If it’s regular policy to destroy them after 72 hours, why did they have two of the tapes, and where are the rest of the tapes? And so far the Secret Service has not been able to answer the question,” he said.
In the testimony planned for Thursday, Clancy does not address whether the car disrupted the suspicious package investigation but says the allegations that the two men had been drinking at another agent’s retirement party beforehand worries him.
“While I am extremely concerned by the allegations of misconduct and the potential for alcohol involvement, I must reserve judgment on these matters until an independent inspector general completes his investigation,” Clancy plans to say.
Secret Service agents and officials are not allowed to use their government owned vehicles to travel to or from any personal matters, including attending a party. Clancy testified before a House panel Tuesday that they also are barred from operating these same vehicles above legal drunk-driving limits. He did not say whether there are any precise protocols barring agents from operating the vehicles after consuming more limited amounts of alcohol.
Clancy also plans to express deep frustration that he only learned of the incident in question five days after it had occurred, which he deemed “unacceptable.”
“I am very unhappy about it,” he will say. “I called my senior staff together last week and made it clear my expectations for prompt notification of these types of allegations.”
“If it is determined that any one of our employees concealed information about this alleged incident, they will be held accountable,” he will say. “Our mission is too important for this to happen. It undermines my leadership and I won’t stand for it.”
Clancy has removed the two agents in question from their positions and has placed hem in nonsupervisory, nonoperation roles while the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General looks into the allegations.
“I have committed the Secret Service’s full cooperation to the OIG investigation and eagerly await the findings,” he said.
Clancy also plans to stress the actions he has already taken to clean house and shake up the agency culture after a string of security lapses and embarrassing misconduct allegations have tarred the Secret Service’s reputation over the last several years.
In January, Clancy reassigned at least four top agency officials at the senior leadership level to other positions within the DHS. At least one other top official retired.
“These were not easy decisions, and many of the people who left, served the agency and our country honorably during their careers,” Clancy plans to say. “But as the leader of this organization, I will do what is necessary to put us back on the right track. And it starts with our people taking responsibility for their actions on-duty and off-duty.”
He also tried to clarify misperceptions that he can fire agency employees based on allegations of misconduct. The Secret Service belongs to a protected class of federal employees that have certain statutory, due-process rights.
“The next step in this process is to wait for the issuance of the OIG report at which point we will determine the appropriate disciplinary actions consistent with our Table of Penalties,” he said. “Once again, if the investigation reveals misconduct, those involved will be punished.”
Secret Service erased tapes of latest White House incident http://washex.am/1Ev3WK4 in Politics on LockerDome
