Rep. King investigating Secret Service misconduct in Colombia

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.) said on Sunday that he has asked his staff to run a thorough investigation into allegations that several Secret Service agents and a handful of military officers solicited or were otherwise involved with prostitutes while in Colombia.

"I have directed my staff to begin an immediate investigation to find out what happened, when it happened, when the supervisors in charge found out about it and what action was taken, and more importantly, what could be done to prevent this in the future," King said on Fox News over the weekend.

In a later appearance on Fox News, King said 11 Secret Service agents have been sent back to Washington to be interviewed, and said his investigation would focus in part on how to prevent this from happening again.

"What happened was wrong, we have to find out why it happened, and it can't be allowed to happen again," King said. "Having said that, I do think that Director Mark Sullivan moved quickly, he moved effectively, as did the field agent in Miami, which has jurisdiction over Colombia.

"Right now, it's going the right way; we have to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said, adding that he would probably hold a hearing on the matter at some point, after the committee completes an initial investigation.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on CBS over the weekend that he is not sure if his committee would hold hearings, but said he would be looking "over the shoulder" of the government investigation.

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