April 22, 2012
Not So Secretly Serviced!
By Dr. E. Faye Williams
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – This has been a week that embarrassed our President and our country around the world--not to mention the embarrassment and insult brought to the 32 heads of state gathered for a Summit where they had traveled to discuss business of importance to their countries. The monstrous shocker was the story of certain members who were the elite of our elite Secret Service Agency going abroad to insure the safety of President Barack Obama at the Summit. Instead of servicing the security needs for our President, they were distracted by having their own needs serviced.
Now, I know there are numerous Secret Service agents who understand what their job is, but with such discipline as we have been told agents are trained to have, one cannot help but wonder how so many went so far off the track on such a high level assignment. I believe the disrespect they have seen from certain Members of Congress, from some of the 2012 Presidential candidates, from certain talk show hosts and from so many leaders in our country who are charged with knowing better, have something to do with the shockingly reckless behavior of the agents involved in the Columbia fiasco? At no time can I understand such an elite group going rogue; yet, to date we are told over twenty agents and military personnel participated in this shameful, disgraceful act when they should have been preparing for the President’s arrival and safety. This sounds more like a plan of the many than it does an accident on the part of a few.
For men who deal with top level secrets daily, I find it impossible to believe that so many could abandon all reason and succumb to such outrageous behavior. We are told that every one of them had highly sensitive information, and could have easily been compromised while acting under the influence of alcohol or while sleeping with unknown partners. These are our elite protectors of the leader of the free world. What must the President think now when his life is in the hands of the Secret Service? What must he think about those charged with protecting his family or his Cabinet?
Homeland Security spends trillions of dollars to secure our homeland because of our concern with terrorist activity. Men, women and little children go through security searches every day. Some are even stripped searched, but most Americans tolerate it in the name of keeping America safe. Yet, our elite protective forces went to another country and abandoned all reason.
As horrifying as their collective acts of disobedience and disloyalty were, the men causing all of this embarrassment and concern would have gone unnoticed had it not been for someone among them who cared more about a $50.00 payment dispute after being personally serviced by his overnight guest, than he cared about his honor, the honor of his agency, the honor of his country—and the safety of his President. That takes my breath away!
I am not just calling for an investigation, but calling for an independent investigation because the Secret Service should not be allowed to investigate its own agency. The President of the United States deserves better than he has seen this past week. All of us should -- and as a Black American woman who has been in the struggle for years-- I feel hurt, ashamed, and outraged that the President of all America could have had his life endangered by the neglect of those he has to depend upon for his safety. Their behavior would shatter the trust level of any ordinary person. If no laws were broken, then laws must be put in place to see that this never happens again.
(Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women. www.nationalcongressbw.org. 202/678-6788)