Washington: US Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan apologised for the misconduct in a scandal involving Colombian prostitutes of the service on Wednesday.
The behaviour of a dozen employees in Cartagena last month did not reflect the culture of the agency, he told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Lawmakers expressed doubt that the apology was an isolated incident, Reuters reported.
“I am deeply disappointed and I apologise for the misconduct of these employees and the distraction that it has caused,” Sullivan said.
“Over the past several weeks, we have been under intense scrutiny as a result of this incident. To see the agency’s integrity called into question has not been easy,” he said.
“The behaviour is morally repugnant,” Senator Susan Collins, the senior Republican on the committee, said. She and other senators said they found it difficult to believe the misconduct was an isolated incident.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, the chairman of the committee, called it a “sordid story”.
“That reputation, a great reputation, was badly stained last month when 11 Secret Service employees engaged in a night of heavy drinking in Cartagena, Colombia, which ended with them taking foreign nationals, women, back to their hotel rooms,” he said.
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