Does the Service have crisis management policies in place to cope with misbehavior?
Another incident that appears to involve women, sex and booze is further damaging the reputation of the Secret Service, already threatened by revelations related to the scandal in Cartagena.
The most recent trouble didn’t start on foreign soil, but rather at the Hay-Adams hotel, right next door to the White House, and although the incident at the hotel started investigators digging, it was a series of sexually charged messages from a senior agent to a female agent that really caused a stir.
The agent at fault? Ignacio Zamora Jr., the same man tasked with reviewing last year’s Cartagena scandal.
The Washington Post’s Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura have more details:
According to the Secret Service’s internal findings, Zamora was off duty when he met a woman at the hotel’s Off the Record bar and later joined her in her room.
The review found that Zamora had removed ammunition from the chamber of his government-issued handgun during his stay in the room and then left behind a single bullet. He returned to the room when he realized his mistake. The guest refused to let him back in. Zamora identified himself to hotel security as a Secret Service agent.
The incident led to an investigation that included a routine search of Zamora’s government-issued BlackBerry, which contained sexually charged messages to the female agent, according to the people briefed on the findings.
Much of what the Secret Service does has to be, well, secret. However, there’s no reason why the service shouldn’t make itself as transparent and accountable as possible when it comes to things like inappropriate personal behavior and disciplinary policies.
By not taking action when it’s clearly called for, and allowing a serious “old boys club” mentality to foster, the Secret Service is inviting a crisis that will have its leadership dragged into court, and likely revealing FAR more than they would like of how the agency operates in the process.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com