US Secret Service row wider than thought

The lawmaker leading an inquiry into the Secret Service prostitution scandal reported dozens of troubling episodes of past misbehaviour Wednesday and appealed to insiders to come forward with what they know as investigators try to determine whether a culture of misconduct took root in the storied agency.

We can only know what the records of the Secret Service reveal, Sen. Joe Lieberman said in opening the first Senate hearing into the matter. And those records,however incomplete,show 64 instances of allegations or complaints of sexual misconduct made against Secret Service employees in the last five years,he said. The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the president and those close to the presidency.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan apologised for the behaviour of the employees in Colombia where the scandal began. But his assertion that the agency has a zero tolerance of such conduct did not convince lawmakers,who brought more allegations to light.