By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy knew about the improper leaking of Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s personnel file at least a week before the information became public, the Inspector General of the Homeland Security found.
CNN reports that Clancy was not being truthful when he said he heard a “rumor”that is “not credible” about the leak just before it became public in late May.
But the Inspector General said that at least three top-level sources told Clancy about the leak before it became public. Those officials were the Secret Service deputy director, a deputy assistant director and former directors.
Initially, Clancy denied knowing anything about the leak of Chaffetz’s file, which included information when he unsuccessfully applied for a job at the agency.
“We are unable to determine, because he has no memory of it, the degree to which Director Clancy understood how widely the information was being disseminated within the Secret Service, or whether he understood that the discussion about Chairman Chaffetz was being fueled and confirmed by dozens of agents improperly accessing a protected file,” the inspector general’s office said.
It added, “We do know that Director Clancy was told of the information from three different sources. We also know that no agency-wide affirmative steps were taken to stop access to the record until after the information was reported in the media.”
