Author Topic: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director  (Read 626 times)

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Online mystery-ak

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Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« on: March 17, 2015, 05:44:25 pm »
http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=630677


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Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
Tuesday, March 17, 2015 01:13 PM

 

The director of the US Secret Service faced a grilling Tuesday from US lawmakers upset by its failure to rein in embarrassing security lapses, and by his acknowledgement that agents use alcohol to reduce stress.

James Clancy, the tarnished protection agency's new boss, was in the hot seat over an incident early this month in which two senior agents drove into White House barricades after a night of boozing but were not detained or given breathalyzer tests.

Lawmakers expressed displeasure over Clancy's acknowledgement to the House Appropriations Committee panel that he did not learn of the March 4 incident until five days later.

Stressing this was his "first test" since being confirmed as director last month, Clancy admitted he had yet to speak with the White House agent in charge at the time, citing the need for an investigation without interference from his office.

"I should have been informed" immediately, he said. "We're following up on that, and there will be accountability."

The incident marked the latest of several embarrassments for the agency, including a major security breach last September when an intruder barged into the White House wielding a knife.

Lawmakers also appeared flabbergasted at Clancy's suggestion that changing Secret Service "culture" would take time, as he seeks to earn agents' trust as their new director.

"Dude, you don't have to earn their trust. You're their boss!" House Republican Chris Stewart charged.

"They're supposed to earn your trust and they haven't earned your trust. And the way you earn their trust is you hold them accountable."

A humbled Clancy repeatedly said "Yes, sir" and "Yes, ma'am" when confronted with withering congressional critiques, which only grew when he said agents were coping with job demands by drinking.

"There's an element within our agency that does cope with stresses... by using alcohol," Clancy said, noting that the agency recently launched an initiative to address stress.

"We've got to find a way to help some of these people that are going toward alcohol as a coping mechanism," he said.

The revelations proved too much for some members of Congress, already deeply frustrated by Secret Service shortcomings including hard-partying oversees incidents like the one in Cartagena, Colombia in 2012, when a dozen agents were caught soliciting prostitutes.

"You can't run an agency like this, for God's sakes," committee chairman Hal Rogers boomed, regarding the latest White House incident, which includes accusations that supervisors may be protecting agents involved.

"This is a breakdown, to put it mildly, of discipline within the ranks of your agency and that's a cancer that can consume you."

Democrat Nita Lowey expressed concern Clancy was unable to simply fire agents for drunkenness at the White House.

"I don't want a member of the Secret Service, frankly, who's capable of getting so inebriated that this kind of an action can be accepted," she told Clancy.

But Clancy said he needed to let due process play out.

"I don't have the ability to just fire people at will."
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Offline aligncare

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Re: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2015, 06:05:10 pm »
Pot meet kettle.


Online Lando Lincoln

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Re: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2015, 06:22:00 pm »
I'm confused... isn't the head of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy?
« Last Edit: March 17, 2015, 06:26:05 pm by Lando Lincoln »
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Online Lando Lincoln

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There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
John Steinbeck

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2015, 06:38:02 pm »
The FBI used to favor Mormons for their ranks, because of their sobriety and family lifestyles.

Perhaps the Secret Service, once a branch of the Treasury Dept., ought to do likewise.

I know a guy who was retired early from the Secret Service, for mental problems. An on the job disability.
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline mountaineer

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Re: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2015, 08:16:35 pm »
Quote
he said agents were coping with job demands by drinking
I admit, having to protect the Obamas probably would drive me to drink, too.

Offline aligncare

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Re: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2015, 08:31:06 pm »
I admit, having to protect the Obamas probably would drive me to drink, too.

I find that copious quantities of Chivas helps one get through six years of the "dark days" of Obama.

No pun intended. But, if that works for you I'm okay with that.

Offline aligncare

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Re: Secret Service Has 'Alcohol' Problem: Director
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2015, 09:05:14 pm »
By the way, just in case one of you tries to use the above against me in a debate, that was a joke. I don't imbibe.

...my reasoning is never impaired nor is my superior intellect ever to be challenged. Got that?

 :huh?: