A Secret Service employee implicated in the agency’s prostitution scandal in Cartagena this year was a supervisor with security information about President Obama’s visit there.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, whose agency has confirmed the involvement of the supervisor, delayed two weeks before disclosing that information to congressional oversight committees in the wake of the public revelations about the scandal, according to a timeline provided by Sullivan’s office and a member of Congress briefed by the director.

Also, while publicly testifying about the incident late last month, Sullivan did not disclose that an additional agency employee implicated in the controversy was a supervisor and had access to security information about the visit. Sullivan later urged lawmakers not to make that information public, a transcript of his testimony shows. An agency official briefed on the probe said the director delayed providing that information to protect possible undercover agents.
On Friday, the Associated Press released a list of formal misconduct allegations made about Secret Service staff since 2004. The list, heavily redacted complaints made to the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, included allegations that staff had solicited prostitutes, been involved in sexual assaults, leaked sensitive information, published pornography, improperly used weapons and engaged in drunken behavior.
One anonymous complaint asked the inspector general to investigate allegations that Sullivan had ordered that a contract worth millions of dollars be awarded to a specific contractor without competition.
“The procurement staff was allegedly warned ‘not to interfere’ after questioning the award,” the documents report.
The documents do not indicate in many cases whether the complaints were proven to be true or whether any actions were ordered as a result. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the list was simply a log of incoming complaints. “Allegations of employee misconduct, whether they are received at the Secret Service, at DHS-OIG, or on an anonymous hotline, are taken seriously and fully investigated,” he said.
In the Cartagena misconduct case, the newly named employee, John Christman, is a supervisor in the agency’s intelligence division, which reviews risks and threats to the president. He was assigned as an intelligence officer in an incident command center for Obama’s Cartagena trip, according to agency personnel briefed on the probe.
Christman declined comment through the agency, and Larry Berger, a lawyer for the federal law enforcement union representing members of the service implicated in the scandal over allegations that agents solicited prostitutes, declined to comment.
Christman is the third supervisor implicated in the case, which has roiled the careers of more than a dozen agents and uniformed officers in a revered federal law enforcement agency.
Donovan said Christman’s access to security information never jeopardized the president’s security.