Report: Secret Service Agent Was Promoted After Losing Gun

A Secret Service agent gives directions during an evacuation from the White House minutes after President Barack Obama departed for Camp David aboard Marine One on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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A Secret Service agent’s gun was stolen from his car in 2009, and he was never disciplined for losing his firearm — in fact, he was later promoted, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Two sources told the Examiner that the agent, who regularly served on President Obama’s security detail, left the semi-automatic handgun inside his work bag in his car overnight.

The Secret Service recorded the gun as lost, and never officially reprimanded the agent, according to the Examiner.

The agent was promoted protective division tasked with guarding the president after the 2009 gun incident.

The Examiner noted that since the 2012 investigation into the Secret Service following the Columbia prostitution scandal, the Secret Service has established harsher penalties for agents who lose their firearms.

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned last week following recent reports of security breaches at the White House, including an incident in which a man with a knife jumped the fence and then made it inside the White House.

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Notable Replies

  1. I notice the agent isn’t mentioned by name. Was he following procedures when the gun was taken from his car?

  2. Yes, because ‘losing’ a gun is a career-ending act :-/

  3. Misleading headlines have reached critical mass! They are spinning out of control!!!

  4. Avatar for dnl dnl says:

    “We hate being proved ‘stupid’…”

  5. He was the victim of a theft. It is entirely possible he did nothing wrong. Storing the gun in his car when he was out of town but not on duty might have been SOP at the time. I would think the car might be a safer place to store a gun than a hotel room, especially if the room didn’t have a safe.

    Of course, we wouldn’t know that from the headline or the article.

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