Saturday, April 14, 2012
U.S. military staff face Colombia misconduct probe
REUTERS - U.S. President Barack Obama waves to photographers upon arrival for the Americas Summit at the airport in Cartagena, April 13, 2012. Heads of state meet at the summit from April 14 to 15. …more REUTERS/Claudia Daut (COLOMBIA - Tags: POLITICS)
A sex scandal
involving Secret Service agents on US President Barack Obama's trip to Colombia
widened Saturday when American soldiers on the visit were also linked to the
use of prostitutes.
Eleven members of the service, known for their robust
handling of security for senior members of the US government, were suspended
and sent home following allegations of misconduct in the resort city of
Cartagena.
Five US military personnel are also being
investigated for behavior said to have taken place at the same hotel where the
Secret Service staff were staying, and they have been taken off duty and
confined to barracks.
Obama arrived
late Friday in the Caribbean port of Cartagena, under security lockdown for the
Summit of the Americas, but the allegations against the Secret Service and
military completely overshadowed the gathering of regional leaders.
The misconduct claims were made on Thursday against
the Secret Service personnel, who included both special agents and uniformed
division officers, though none of them was assigned to Obama's personal
security detail.
Secret Service Assistant Director Paul Morrissey said
"the nature of the allegations, coupled with a zero tolerance policy on
personal misconduct," led to the "decisive action to relieve these
individuals of their assignment."
Having been sent
back to the United States, the personnel involved were taken to the service's
Washington headquarters for interviews on Saturday as part of the agency's
internal affairs division's investigation.
"As a result, all 11 employees have been placed
on administrative leave. This is standard procedure and allows us the
opportunity to conduct a full, thorough and fair investigation into the
allegations," Morrissey said.
The Washington Post, quoting Jon Adler, president of
the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, reported that at least one
agent had been involved with prostitutes in Cartagena.
Ronald Kessler, a
former Post reporter and author of a book on the Secret Service, told CNN the
scandal erupted when one of the agents "did not pay one of the
prostitutes, and she complained to the police."
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Saturday told
reporters that Obama had full confidence in the Secret Service.
Shortly after, a
statement released by the US military's Southern Command, tasked with planning
and operations in Central and Southern America, said five of its staff had been
linked to the same misconduct claims in Cartagena.
Its commander,
General Douglas Fraser, was quoted to be "disappointed by the entire
incident and that this behavior is not in keeping with the professional
standards expected of members of the United States military."
He went on to say that "after a thorough
investigation, punishment, if appropriate, will take place," in accordance
with military justice.
The revelations
came as two small bombs exploded in the capital Bogota, near the US embassy,
and another two in Cartagena, though no one was hurt and there was no damage.
The Secret Service, which employs some 3,200 agents
and 1,300 uniformed police, has been in the spotlight for a number of notable
incidents since Obama took office three years ago.
In late 2009
investigations were launched after an uninvited couple -- both aspiring reality
TV stars -- gatecrashed Obama's first state dinner at the White House, gaining
access to the party and even getting photographed with the president.
The couple from Virginia, Tareq and Michaele Salahi,
made headlines after attending the early part of the dinner honoring visiting
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh despite lacking an invitation or Secret
Service clearance.
In November last year an agent was charged with
second-degree murder after an incident in Hawaii in November ahead of an APEC
summit, The Washington Post reported, while another was charged with drunk driving
last August while helping to arrange security for an Obama bus-trip in Iowa.
The Secret Service was created in 1865 to tackle
currency counterfeiting, but it gained an expanded role to protect the
president in 1901 after the assassination of president William McKinley. Its
services were extended to presidential candidates after Robert F. Kennedy was
assassinated in 1968.
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Titanic discoverer says ship’s wreckage site being destroyed by tourists; how he plans to save it
The
man who first
discovered the Titanic wreckage says tourists visiting the site are
destroying
the remains of the ship's hull.
"They
are loving the Titanic to
death," oceanographer Robert Ballard said during an interview with
Stephen
Colbert.
Ballard
is using the 100th anniversary of
the ship's sinking to bring attention to what he says is the unnecessary
destruction of the historic site.
"They
are landing on it, crushing
the deck, knocked off the crow's nest, leaving all sorts of garbage," he
said.
Ballard
said one couple was even married
in a submarine that landed on the Titanic's deck, which he called, "a
little over-the-top."
"What
we're trying to do is say,
look, visit the Titanic. But you don't go to Gettysburg with a shovel.
You
don't take belt buckles off the Arizona. So, visit, but don't touch," he
said.
On
Monday, Ballard will host Save
the
Titanic on the National Geographic Channel. Along with keeping
tourists
at arm's length, Ballard has another seemingly unusual idea for saving
the
Titanic from further deterioration: painting it.
"You
can actually paint the Titanic.
When you build supertankers, they are as big as a football field. They
can't
dry dock those suckers anymore," he told Colbert. "They can actually
use robots, very simple, to clean the hull of the ship and they have
paint they
can apply underwater."
Ballard
said he's applied for a permit to
begin painting the Titanic, which is located about 380 miles off
Newfoundland.
And if a good faith effort to keep the tourists off the Titanic's deck
doesn't
work, Ballard said "robot sentries" could be deployed to alert
authorities to trespassers.
Several
events are being held around the
world to mark the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
The Luxor
Hotel is Las Vegas is showcasing items removed from the wreckage in its "Titanic: The
Artifact
Exhibition." Ballard said he's opposed to such efforts, noting that
the Smithsonian and British Museum rejected his offers to bring up
evidence for
display.
"There's
nothing to learn," he
said. "I also went to the survivors, there were 24 of them alive when I
found it. They said leave it. It's the graveyard of my parents."
The
Titanic remains a cultural phenomenon
to this day. Amongst the assortment of Titanic memorabilia, you can even
purchase a 25-foot
inflatable
slide that recreates the ship's sinking.
"What
we're trying to do is say,
look, visit the Titanic. But you don't go to Gettysburg with a shovel.
You
don't take belt buckles off the Arizona. So, visit, but don't touch," he
said.
On
Monday, Ballard will host Save
the
Titanic on the National Geographic Channel. Along with keeping
tourists
at arm's length, Ballard has another seemingly unusual idea for saving
the
Titanic from further deterioration: painting it.
"You
can actually paint the Titanic.
When you build supertankers, they are as big as a football field. They
can't
dry dock those suckers anymore," he told Colbert. "They can actually
use robots, very simple, to clean the hull of the ship and they have
paint they
can apply underwater."
Ballard
said he's applied for a permit to
begin painting the Titanic, which is located about 380 miles off
Newfoundland.
And if a good faith effort to keep the tourists off the Titanic's deck
doesn't
work, Ballard said "robot sentries" could be deployed to alert
authorities to trespassers.
Several
events are being held around the
world to mark the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
The Luxor
Hotel is Las Vegas is showcasing items removed from the wreckage in its "Titanic: The
Artifact
Exhibition." Ballard said he's opposed to such efforts, noting that
the Smithsonian and British Museum rejected his offers to bring up
evidence for
display.
"There's
nothing to learn," he
said. "I also went to the survivors, there were 24 of them alive when I
found it. They said leave it. It's the graveyard of my parents."
The
Titanic remains a cultural phenomenon
to this day. Amongst the assortment of Titanic memorabilia, you can even
purchase a 25-foot
inflatable
slide that recreates the ship's sinking.
Painting of the bow of the Titanic as
plunges into the North Atlantic
Ocean.
Image #762774 : Raymond Wong/National Geographic Stock
Image #762774 : Raymond Wong/National Geographic Stock
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