Barack Obama. Photograph by Pete Souza
Three members of US president Barack Obama’s security detail in the Netherlands have been suspended and sent home, after one of the agents was found drunk in a hotel hallway.
Obama is The Hague for the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) along with heads of state or high ranking diplomats from countries including Russia, China, Japan, and the UK.
The drunk agent was found unconscious by staff at the Huis Ter Duin Hotel on Sunday morning, the day before the president arrived for the talks. Under regulations for the protective details, agents are prohibited from drinking any alcohol within 10 hours of their assignment beginning. As their assignment would have begun on Sunday in preparation for the president’s arrival, the actions of the agents that went out drinking demonstrated neglect of their responsibilities.
The three agents suspended were part of the US Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team (CAT), who are considered the last line of defence if the president’s motorcade was attacked.
