The Secret Service, who (despite their very best efforts) have yet to actually succeed in killing the President, are sleepy.
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The Department of Homeland Security has subsequently been conducting routine checks of the Secret Service’s facilities and communications equipment.
“We are concerned that the Secret Service’s staffing and scheduling process does not ensure that officers receive adequate breaks while on duty and time off between shifts”, the inspector general’s alert says.
Other public problems to plague the agency include a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia and a pair of agents – reported to be “likely” intoxicated – who crashed through a White House security barrier last March. Both officers were referred for discipline.
Following the infamous fence-jumping incident, a number of officers spoke up and complained about how they are often made to come in to work on their scheduled days off as a result of short staff. A panel appointed by the administration suggested that the Secret Service hire an additional 85 agents and 200 officers to handle the work.
After recording a 36-hour shift, the officer followed up with protective assignments spanning 18 days.
“These issues impact officer safety and the agency’s ability to meet its mission”, the alert said.
White House spokesman Eric Shultz declined to discuss the allegations, but said the Secret Service took issue with a few of the findings of the report.
“Regarding these two incidents, scheduling and staffing issues were not contributing factors to the misconduct by these officers, nor do they serve as an excuse for their behavior”, the statement said.
The inspector general’s office is working on a broader review that includes workload and morale after a string of Secret Service embarrassments, including an incident in which a man jumped a fence and ran across the White House’s north lawn, making it all the way inside the residence through an unlocked front door.
He said that one of the officers told investigators cold medicine he had taken that day had made him drowsy, while the other had been working long hours, but had spent time sitting and sleeping during a flight back in a military transport plane from President Obama’s trip to Kenya.
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The new director of the Secret Service, Joseph Clancy, has promised to improve staffing with the help of Congress when he begins the job officially in February this year.
