Washington -
Agents with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) attended sex parties with prostitutes who were paid by drug cartels, a report by a government watchdog said on Thursday.
The report said the parties occurred while the agents were “working in an overseas office” and sometimes even at those offices.
Several news reports said the country referred to is Colombia, where the DEA has a large field office.
The parties involved an assistant regional director, an assistant special agent in charge and other special agents, according to the report by the US Justice Department inspector general.
“Although some of the DEA agents participating in these parties denied it, the information in the case file suggested they should have known the prostitutes in attendance were paid with cartel funds,” the report said.
The inspector general said it had investigated the sex party case in 2009 and 2010, but apparently never acted on its findings until a case in 2012 brought what it said was “international media attention.”
In that case US President Obama's advance security team took up with prostitutes ahead of his visit to Cartagena, Colombia.
The wide-ranging report looked into sexual misconduct allegations and how they are handled at the DEA as well as the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the United States Marshals Service (USMS).
The report found some of the allegations went unreported or underreported or were not pursued properly. The inspector general said its own investigation was hampered by officials in the agencies who refused to turn over documents, which delayed their work.
The inspector general tallied 621 total alleged cases of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment over a four year period at the four US law enforcement agencies.
About one-fifth of the cases were relationships between employees of the agencies.
But other sexual misconduct, such as sexting and using a government office or car for sex, were also high on the list of offences.
The sex parties in question occurred at government-leased quarters and while the agents held top secret clearances.
That raised the possibility that DEA equipment and information may have been compromised, the report said.
An officer in the host country also alleged three DEA agents were provided money, expensive gifts and weapons from drug cartel members, the report said.
US lawmakers, including those who pressured agencies to get tough on misconduct after the 2012 Cartagena case, reacted swiftly.
“It's extremely troubling that federal drug agents lacked the common sense to know that engaging with prostitutes hired by drug cartels was a bad idea,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.
Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Politico online newspaper that his office would launch an investigation.
Sapa-dpa