Secret Service officials improperly gained access to an unsuccessful 2003 job application of Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) and an assistant director at the agency wanted to leak "embarrassing" information about the lawmaker, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general out Wednesday.
The government official expressed the need to smear Chaffetz, chairman of the House oversight committee, at a time when he was probing the alleged drunk driving by Secret Service agents earlier this year.
The Associated Press reported:
Employees accessed Chaffetz’s 2003 application for a Secret Service job starting 18 minutes after the start of a congressional hearing in March about the latest scandal involving drunken behavior by senior agents. Some forwarded the information to others. At least 45 employees viewed the file. Chaffetz applied to join the Secret Service through a field office and was rejected and labeled "Better Qualified Applicant" for unknown reasons. ... One week later, Assistant Director Ed Lowery suggested leaking embarrassing information about Chaffetz in retaliation for aggressive investigations by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into a series of agency missteps and scandals, the report said. Days later, on April 2, the information about Chaffetz unsuccessfully applying for a job at the Secret Service was published by The Daily Beast, an Internet publication.
Lowery wrote in a March 31 email to another assistant director, "Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out. Just to be fair." However, Lowery claimed to investigators that he never instructed anyone to leak the information.
According to the inspector general report, the employees may have criminally violated the U.S. Privacy Act.
"It doesn’t take a lawyer explaining the nuances of the Privacy Act to know that the conduct that occurred here—by dozens of agents in every part of the agency—was wrong," the report stated.
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson apologized to Chaffetz Wednesday, though he did not indicate if the officials involved had been punished for their actions. He said in a statement that "those responsible should 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. Activities like those described in the report must not, and will not, be tolerated," Johnson stated.
Clancy himself also issued an apology, labeling the events "wholly avoidable and embarrassing misconduct" on the part of the agency.
"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.