But the next group of American visitors to walk in the door may not be customers at all. After uncovering evidence of misconduct, investigators for the Secret Service are seeking to interview women who are said to have accompanied 11 agents β including snipers and explosives experts β to their hotel rooms after a night of heavy drinking, said Representative Peter T.
King , the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. The agency knows their identities because the hotel where they stayed had a policy requiring women to leave copies of their identification cards before going into rooms, said Mr. Sullivan, said a total of 20 to 21 local women were brought into the sprawling beachfront complex called the Hotel Caribe. She said that some of the women accompanied Secret Service agents and that others escorted members of the military, which is conducting its own investigation.
On Monday, an Air Force colonel and a military lawyer arrived in Colombia to conduct an investigation on behalf of the Defense Department, said Col. The enlisted personnel under scrutiny include two Marine dog handlers; at least one member of the Green Berets from the Seventh Special Forces Group, which focuses on South America ; and Air Force and Navy personnel who specialize in the disposal of explosives. Exactly where the American security personnel met the women they reportedly took back to their rooms was still under investigation, the American officials said, with more than one establishment under review.
King said. The 11 individuals were part of a much larger Secret Service contingent of dozens supporting Mr. The agents arrived in Colombia on Tuesday or Wednesday and, according to Mr. King and a senior United States official, had not yet been briefed on their specific assignments or started their official duties when they went out on Wednesday night and met the women. The president arrived in Cartagena on Friday afternoon for the Summit of the Americas , which drew leaders from throughout Latin America.
The number of military personnel under scrutiny in the case, which the Pentagon initially numbered at 5, is between 10 and 12, the officials said. At least one member of the military has been questioned and cleared of wrongdoing, the officials said.
