House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah
Forty-one Secret Service agency employees face discipline for leaking information about Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who applied to become an agent with the bureau in 2003.
It’s not clear who the information has been leaked to, outside of the agency and besides unauthorized Secret Service agents.
Chaffetz, now chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was turned down for the role, but the agency maintained his application on file – and much of what it contained was sensitive in nature.
Now, some of that information has been leaked, and it’s believed Secret Service agents, upset at Chaffetz’s ongoing investigation into the agency’s many scandals – including a security lapse that let in an intruder at the White House, and another that found agents drinking on the job – committed the privacy breach in retribution, CNN reported.
A Department of Homeland Security investigation revealed some months ago that a top official with the Secret Service sent out an email encouraging fellow agents to leak records on Chaffetz that included “some information that he might find embarrassing,” the report said.
The DHS investigation also found about 45 agents looked into Chaffetz’s personal file, a privacy ding that violates the agency’s own policies.
Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security, said officials have checked into the conduct of 57 Secret Service officials regarding this matter, 11 of whom are classified as senior-level agents.
“Of those,” Johnson said, CNN reported, “41 are receiving some level of discipline. This discipline includes a letter of reprimand to one individual, suspended discipline contingent on no further misconduct for a period of five years, and suspensions from duty without pay for periods of up to 45 days.”
Johnson declined to release more details, including the sensitive information of Chaffetz, citing privacy concerns.
Chaffetz, meanwhile, expressed outrage through his spokesperson, MJ Henshaw.
“This should have never happened and should not happen again,” she said.
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