WASHINGTON – Forty-one Secret Service employees found to have reviewed private agency records involving a U.S. congressman have been disciplined, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday.
Johnson said the actions of 57 agency employees, including 11 senior officials, were reviewed as part of an international investigation about agency personnel accessing records about Rep. Jason Chaffetz. Details of the files, including a decade-old failed job application, were leaked to the news media and sparked yet another embarrassing scandal for the agency charged with protecting the president and his family.
Chaffetz is a Utah Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He has held several hearings to investigate missteps and scandals within the agency. Secret Service files about him were accessed just after the start of one of those contentious hearings last year.
Johnson said the punishments for the 41 implicated employees include a letter of reprimand for one employee and suspended discipline and suspensions without pay for up to 45 days for others. He did not disclose the names of the employees or their positions.
The employee found to have leaked details about Chaffetz's failed job application has resigned and Johnson said there was "no basis to take any action" against Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy or his deputy director.
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