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News / Nation & World

Secret Service agents accused of White House crash

Paper reports they drove into barrier after drinking

The Columbian
Published: March 12, 2015, 12:00am

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department is investigating two senior Secret Service agents accused of crashing a car into a White House security barrier, an agency spokesman said Wednesday.

Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said recently appointed Director Joseph Clancy has been briefed on the March 4 incident. Clancy has asked the Homeland Security Department’s Inspector General’s Office to investigate the incident.

The agency said the two agents have been reassigned.

The Washington Post first reported the investigation Wednesday afternoon. The newspaper reported that the agents drove a government car into a security barrier near the White House after a night of drinking.

The Post reported that one of the agents involved is Mark Connolly, the second-in-command on President Barack Obama’s security detail. The newspaper identified the other agent as George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor in the Washington field office.

The leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — Republican chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah and top Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland — issued a statement Wednesday evening saying, “The fact that this event involved senior-level agents is not only embarrassing but exhibits a clear lack of judgment in a potentially dangerous situation.”

The crash investigation is the latest embarrassment for the agency tasked with protecting the president.

In the last six months, several top agency officials have been forced out amid revelations of multiple, serious presidential security breaches. In September, a Texas man armed with a knife was able to climb a White House fence and run deep into the executive mansion before being apprehended.

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