JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A former Homeland Security expert with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office provided insight into the investigation of Secret Service agents who crashed a government car into White House security barriers.
Two senior Secret Service agents, including a top member of President Barack Obama's protective detail, crashed a car into a White House barricade following a late-night party for retiring spokesman Ed Donovan and it's suspected they had been drinking, sources confirmed to CNN.
"You put this story with the now several stories that depict improper behavior of the Secret Service ... they've got some in-house issues, they've got some retraining they need to address and that's going to be a long-term scenario that they're going to have to remedy," said Rick Parker, formerly with JSO Homeland Security.
Parker said it shouldn't take long to investigate this but it creates questions about patterns and practices of Secret Service performance in the last several months.
Parker said it's unlikely the agents will keep their jobs if found guilty of DUI.
"There are guys who'd love to have that presidential detail and guys waiting in line to have that opportunity. That's about literally they all can do. It's an opportunity for the agency to move forward. There's probably a good side to it," said Parker.
The officers were allowed to go home after a supervisor on duty overruled on-duty law enforcement who wanted to arrest the agents and conduct sobriety tests, a U.S. law enforcement official confirmed to CNN.
The two employees have been reassigned to non-supervisory, non-operational assignments, a Secret Service official said.