Panetta: Security clearance suspended for military in prostitution scandal

The military has suspended the security clearance of the
service members who have been linked to the widening Secret Service prostitution
scandal, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday.

Panetta told reporters on his flight to Colombia — where last week’s scandal occurred — that the Pentagon had suspended the
security clearances for the members of the military who are part of the
investigation, a number that rose to 12 on Monday, according to The Associated
Press.

The AP reported that the 12th military service member included in
the investigation is assigned to the White House Communications Agency, which
provides the president with secure communications.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the agency is made
up of military personnel, not White House staff, and that the White House Counsel’s
office had
cleared their advance staff of any wrongdoing.

Both the Secret Service and the Pentagon are investigating
allegations that Secret Service agents and U.S. military personnel brought
prostitutes back to their hotel ahead of President Obama’s visit there last
weekend.

Six secret service agents have either resigned or been
removed in the week since the allegations went public.

The scandal
dominated the Sunday talk shows, where lawmakers who are following the allegations
defended Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan but said that fundamental problems
in the agency must be addressed.

“Obviously nobody believes that something with 11 or 12
people involved couldn’t have happened before,” said Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee. “The real point is
will we have confidence that it will never happen again, particularly for
nationals having access to our men and women in the Secret Service.”

Panetta told reporters Monday that “my biggest concern is
the issue of security and what could possibly have been jeopardized by virtue
of this kind of behavior,” according to the AP.