Report: Secret Service leaked information on Chaffetz

[Valin]

Politico:

Lauren French

09/30/15

 

The Secret Service reportedly leaked sensitive personal information to the press about Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz as the Utah Republican was investigating the beleaguered agency.

 

The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General issued a report on Wednesday that accused Secret Service Assistant Director Edward Lowery and other agency officials of plotting to leak information about Chaffetz, including his unsuccessful attempt to join the organization.

 

The leaks were a highly unusual breach of decorum. Lawmakers often battle with agencies, but the fights mostly stay above board and focus on policy, rather than descending into leaking private information.

The report found that between March 24 and April 2, 2015, 45 Secret Service employees accessed “sensitive personal information” on Chaffetz nearly 60 times. Only 4 of the 45 employees had “an arguable legitimate need to access the information,” the report found. The IG also found that there was widespread dissemination of the personal information.

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Any bets that no one will be fired?

 

[Valin]

Johnson, Clancy: We’ll hold Secret Service agents “accountable” for intimidation tactics against Oversight chair

Ed Morrissey

October 1, 2015

 

Suuuuuuuure they will. As Allahpundit noted last night, the Secret Service joins a long line of federal agencies to have played hardball with Congress and others to undermine its legitimate oversight function. How has accountability worked out in those other instances? Well, Hillary Clinton’s still running for the Democratic Party nomination while the Benghazi committee waits for the communications Congress should have had almost three years ago, and no one at the IRS has gotten fired over targeting conservatives in the tax-exempt application process.

 

Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen here, either. Eighteen supervisors knew about this and did nothing about it; the knowledge of Assistant Director Ed Lowery’s efforts went almost all the way to the top of the Secret Service hierarchy. Apparently, the only one not to know about it was the boss, Joseph Clancy, who got appointed with the explicit mission of cleaning up the agency:

 

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Still, Clancy and Johnson say that those involved will be “held accountable“:

 

 

“I am confident that U.S. Secret Service Director Joe Clancy will take appropriate action to hold accountable those who violated any laws or the policies of this department,” Johnson said. “Activities like those described in the report must not, and will not, be tolerated.”

 

Clancy also apologized Wednesday for “this wholly avoidable and embarrassing misconduct” and pledged to hold those responsible for the data breach accountable.

 

“I will continue to review policies and practices to address employee misconduct and demand the highest level of integrity of all our employees,” Clancy said in a statement.

 

 

We’ll know Clancy takes this seriously when he fires all 18 supervisors and managers who knew about this and allegedly failed to report it to him. This is not just “embarrassing misconduct,” it might be criminal conduct; Roth even states that these actions might be criminal violations of privacy laws. It certainly was an attempt to curtail the legitimate Congressional oversight of an agency whose track record of late shows that it sorely needs it. This is an offense against the Constitution these public officials swore to uphold. Strongly worded letters of reprimand simply won’t cut it.

 

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[Valin]

Jason Chaffetz Responds to DHS and Secret Service Apologies: ‘Ain’t Good Enough’

Debra Heine
October 1, 2015

 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) blasted the U.S. Secret Service for leaking “unflattering information” about his prior job application to the agency in an attempt to embarrass and intimidate him. The information appeared in an article the Daily Beast last April, raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill.

As PJ Media’s Michael Walsh reported, a subsequent investigation released Wednesday by the DHS inspector general found that Ed Lowery, a top official in the agency, a few days before the article appeared, had encouraged the snooping in an office email, saying that “some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out. Just to be fair.”

 

“It’s a little bit scary. The Secret Service diving into my background as a sitting member of Congress?” said Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room. “It’s not about me, but it is about: What are they doing over there? These people are trusted with guns by the president for goodness’ sake.”

 

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[Valin]

Jason Chaffetz ‏@jasoninthehouse

 

Secret Service director revises account of his role in leak case http://wpo.st/fGOe0

 

5:13 PM - 2 Oct 2015