Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Prostitution Scandal in the Military?

Investigators have discovered that approximately 20 military personnel have possibly been involved in a hotel scandal in Cartagena, Colombia last week. The scandal interrupted President
Obama's visit in the region and caused many people questioning the Defense Department.

Many have been considering this one of the most serious scandals of our senior defense officers seen in years. The incident has triggered people to question the integrity of Obama's secret service as well as the Defense Department in whole.

"People in Cartagena familiar with the matter said that some of the Secret Service agents paid $60 apiece to owners of the Pleyclub, a strip club in an industrial section of Cartagena, to bring at least two of the women back to the Hotel Caribe, where Obama’s advance team was staying.

The following morning, one of the women demanded an additional payment of $170, setting off a dispute with an agent that drew the attention of the hotel, the Cartagena sources said."

As a result of this event, yesterday the Secret Service announced that they were revoking all of the security clearance of each officers involved in this incident.

So, my question to all of you is that do you think this is an appropriate punishment or do you believe that this is an over-exaggeration by our government?

6 comments:

Sophia Wu said...

I do believe that this was an appropriate punishment. Given that these are government agents on a trip with the President, I would expect them to be held to a higher standard of integrity. Since they are still investigating the incident, I don't think that any more serious punishment is warranted until all the facts have been considered.
Furthermore, I think that the more serious issue is the political impact this incident will have. The media focus on Obama's trip of Colombia is no longer boosting Latin America's economy. Instead it's this scandal that not only questions the integrity of Obama's secret service, but also the competency of the Obama administration. How can America trust Obama's judgement if so many of his own Secret Service agents are demonstrating misconduct?

PatrickG said...

I agree with Sophia. This was an appropriate punishment given the circumstances. When you are a federal employee associated with the president in a foreign country, you act in a way that casts the United States in a positive light. It is just the way things should be done. It was highly inappropriate for members of the secret service to hire prostitutes during a trip to boost Latin America's economy. It is not what they were supposed to be doing and something that should be punished. They were acting like irresponsible children when they should have been using their better judgement to know that hiring prostitutes on a government trip is never okay. I don't agree with Sophia though when she says that Obama's judgement comes into question here. Obama, as things look as of now, has nothing to do with what happened. His judgement should not be inferred from the acts of anyone but himself. Unfortunately, most people probably will see it as his fault and close to election season, that is definitely something that he doesn't want.

Sammy Molakides said...

I agree with both Sophia and Patrick, the punishment given to the secret service agents was appropriate, it should have possibly have been worst. Whenever people from our government are visiting places, they are setting an example of our country, our political figures and also anyone else involved including the security protects these figures also represents our country. By doing what these men did, it just stains the image of American citizens, we are all just freedom loving Yankee's who don't pay our prostitutes. I honestly think there should have been worst consequences for these men to set an example of what happens when the American image is stained.

Brynn said...

This kind of reminds me of that T.V. series we watched in health class, Dateline. So many of the men caught looking for sex from young girls were veterans. I just think it's so sad the men that we expect to uphold integrity and honor fall short of our expectations so often. I do believe that this punishment was necessary and well deserved. It's one thing to have relations with a prostitute, but then to create a scandal while on duty? With the President there? I don't understand how anyone could think that is acceptable. Like Sammy said, when the POTUS goes abroad, the spotlight is on him, and his men as an example of our country. I'm glad some action was taken.

Jan Galabay said...

I agree with everyone that the punishment was appropriate. Being in the secret service is tough since they are on duty almost 24/7. However, doing such acts is unjustified. Like what others have mentioned, they are representing our country, even if they are not doing the speeches. They need to act professionally. I read an article in CBS news about this. They raised the question about having more women in the secret service. Currently, secret service is portrayed as loyal, disciplined, and all male. According to the article, only 11% of the secret services are women. I think the prostitution scandal would not have happened if there was no gender gap in the secret service. A different perspective will be helpful especially in decision-making or in situations like this. Meanwhile, I think that President Obama’s critics will use this against him, even if it is not entirely his fault. His opponents will claim that this happened under his administration. It is the election year, so it is just natural that his opponents will take advantage of this.

Sarah Felix-Almirol said...

Although I agree with my fellow commenters that the image of Obama's secret service should be perfect in theory, I am not surprised that the military has had the chance and took that chance to make a scandal. Need I mention Vietnam? (True, it was war times but it just goes to show how much leash our army has to be given in order to take advantage of it.)

Still, for causing a public disturbance, the punishment itself seems like an informal decision based on how much of the incident was based on officer misconduct. I wonder if any more details about the dispute were actually less of a scandal and more of a legal problem between the military personnel and the strip club's workers.