Latest Secret Service incident: Crash at White House

The Department of Homeland Security is investigating two Secret Service employees who allegedly drove into a security barrier at the White House after drinking.

The March 4 incident, first reported by the Washington Post, adds another stain on the Secret Service’s reputation as the agency has come under repeated fire in the last three years for its employees’ behavior on duty and for its ability to protect the first family.


The Post report said that officers at the White House wanted to arrest the two Secret Service agents after they drove into the security barrier, but a supervisor stepped into to let the two agents go home. A Secret Service official said the two employees have since been reassigned to “non-supervisory, non-operational assignments.”

A spokesperson for the Secret Service said the agency is “aware of the allegations” and the investigation has been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General.

“The Secret Service will fully cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General in this investigation,” said spokeswoman Nicole Mainor.

Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy was briefed on the incident, Mainor added. She referred all further questions to the IG’s office.

The two agents were identified as Mark Connolly, who serves on President Barack Obama’s detail, and George Ogilvie, a senior officer in the D.C. office, the Post reported.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the panel, said the late-night car accident furthers concerns that the agency is not able to move beyond a series of embarrassing scandals.

“Although recent steps have been made to bring new leadership in at the highest levels, this incident begs the question of whether that is enough. The fact that this event involved senior-level agents is not only embarrassing but exhibits a clear lack of judgment in a potentially dangerous situation,” the two wrote.

Cummings and Chaffetz added, “The Committee as a whole remains committed to restoring the integrity of this elite agency and improving accountability at all staff levels.”

The Oversight Committee has led congressional probes into a series of security/judgment lapses within the Secret Service, including reports that off-duty agents hired prostitutes while in Colombia for a presidential trip and the fallout from a 2014 incident where a man jumped the White House fence and entered inner rooms of the compound before being stopped by agents.

Chaffetz told CNN that Connolly and Ogilvie were “partying in Georgetown” when they were asked to return to the White House.

“Drinking on the job isn’t good at McDonald’s, and it certainly isn’t good if you work for the Secret Service,” he said.