The US Secret Service director admitted to Congress on Tuesday that his agents often drink, even as he sought funding to build a life-size mock-up of the White House to improve training.
Joseph Clancy, the tarnished agency's new boss, was grilled by lawmakers outraged over its latest embarrassing security lapse, in which two senior agents drove into White House barricades after a night of boozing, but were not detained or given breathalyzer tests.
House Appropriations Committee members expressed disbelief over Clancy's acknowledgement that he did not learn of the March 4 incident, in which the agents hit barricades and drove through an active investigation, until five days later.
"I should have been informed" immediately, he said. "We're following up on that, and there will be accountability."
Lawmakers also appeared flabbergasted at Clancy's suggestion that changing Secret Service "culture" would take time, as he seeks to earn agents' trust as their new chief.
"They're supposed to earn your trust and they haven't earned your trust. And the way you earn their trust is you hold them accountable."
"There's an element within our agency that does cope with stresses... by using alcohol," Clancy said, noting that the agency recently launched an initiative to address stress.
'Breakdown'
"Unfortunately this is the last in a long line of episodes somewhat similar -- drinking, carousing, on and off duty -- that this agency has suffered these last few years," said committee chairman Hal Rogers regarding the latest White House incident, which includes accusations that supervisors may be protecting agents involved.
"You can't run an agency like this, for God's sakes," he added.
Democrat Nita Lowey said she found Clancy's testimony "shocking," and expressed concern he was unable to fire agents for drunkenness at the White House.
"I don't want a member of the Secret Service, frankly, who's capable of getting so inebriated that this kind of an action can be accepted," she told Clancy.
Let them "find another job."
But Clancy said he needed to let due process play out.
"I don't have the ability to just fire people at will," he countered.
Several lawmakers told Clancy that sackings were in order.
"You got a big job and you're going to have to make heads roll," said House Republican John Carter, chairman of the panel's homeland security subcommittee.
The Secret Service's fiscal year 2016 budget request is $1.9 billion, an annual increase of $273 million, largely for protective efforts ramping up during the presidential election cycle.
Clancy said his agency was seeking $8 million to construct a replica of the White House at a training facility in Maryland that will provide a "more realistic environment conducive to scenario-based training exercises."
Women Shouldn't Be In Secret Service, Says US Right Wing Post Trump Shooting Iran Rejects US Accusations Of Any Involvement In Trump Assassination Bid US Secret Service Vows To Cooperate With Independent Review After Trump Rally Shooting Amid Huge Row, Karnataka Pauses Bill For Reservation In Private Sector Firms Travel Influencer Aanvi Kamdar Dies After Falling Off A Waterfall Near Mumbai UP Banker Dies By Suicide After 6 Months Of Bullying, Body-Shaming Major Crackdown Launched On Terror Network In J&K After Doda Encounter UK's New Government Vows To Remove 92 Unelected Peers From Upper House EU's Carbon Tax Could Cost India 0.05% Of GDP: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.