Norton Says Behavior Incidents with Secret Service Agents Demand Attention to Overburdened Officers

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR), today released the following statement after reports that two U.S. Secret Service agents were involved in an alcohol-related car accident outside of the White House's security barricades:

"Yesterday's incident where two Secret Service agents crashed a car into a White House barricade is beyond unacceptable. I know nothing about these two officers, but I do know it is time to come to grips with the reality that when agents are consistently working 12-hour shifts, as has been documented, under high stress, these kinds of incidents are going to occur. Although incidents where human beings blow off steam after years of overwork are not uncommon, they cannot be tolerated in the protective service agency for the President of the United States. We have justifiably focused on Secret Service leadership, but leadership alone cannot reform an agency where new missions are added to the same number of agents and officers. Our focus must widen to the men and women who have had no relief from exponentially more work and responsibilities without any additional resources. According to the recent U.S. Secret Service Protective Mission Panel report, ‘the President and other protectees cannot receive the best possible protection when agents and officers are deployed for longer and longer hours with fewer and fewer days off. For years, the Service has taken on additional missions—in both its protective and investigative roles—but has not matched its request for additional resources to those expanded missions….The panel recommends that Congress and the Executive Branch work together to ensure appropriations sufficient for an additional 85 special agents and 200 Uniformed Division officers; the Panel believes this is a first step, but likely not the last step, to ensure adequate training and personnel for the White House.' We must take seriously all parts of the recent report, particularly its warning about the increasing burdens placed on officers, if we are going to turn this agency around and have it live up to its zero-failure standard."

Norton will shortly receive a Secret Service classified briefing concerning issues that could not be discussed at last month's OGR hearing on the U.S. Secret Service Protective Mission Panel report.

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