IG reopens Secret Service probe after director changes account of breach

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general reopened an investigation into allegations that Secret Service agents improperly accessed a more than decade-old job application of a congressman who has been a critic of the agency’s operations.

In a statement, the inspector general’s office, headed by John Roth, announced Monday it had reopened the investigation of agents accessing the 2003 job application of Rep. Jason Chaffetz because Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy revised an account of when he first learned the Utah Republican had unsuccessfully applied for work at the service in 2003.

Clancy issued a statement last week saying he learned of a "speculative rumor'' circulating through the agency as early as March 25 — not April 1, as he initially told inspector general investigators in a July interview — that Chaffetz sought employment several years before he was elected to Congress.

“The Office of Inspector General will conduct further interviews and take other investigative steps, as appropriate, and issue a public addendum to the September 25, 2015 report,” the inspector general’s office said in a statement.

Last week, Roth issued a report detailing how 45 agency employees had accessed Chaffetz's file, even though only four of those had "an arguable legitimate need'' to do it. In addition, the report found that 18 supervisors, including the acting chief of staff and deputy director of the service, knew or should have known that the congressman's protected information had been improperly breached.

The report also found that Assistant Director Ed Lowery emailed a colleague about Chaffetz's 2003 application, stating that "some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out. Just to be fair.''

Lowery sent the March 31 email at the same time that Chaffetz was directing a review of the agency's response to a series of security breaches and agent misconduct.

Chaffetz’s application record suggests he did not get the job because other better qualified candidates existed.

Clancy said last week that any employee implicated in the misconduct would be held accountable, "regardless of rank or seniority.''

The office of Chaffetz, who announced on Sunday that he is running to replace House Speaker John Boehner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.