Three Secret Service agents in charge of protecting President Obama in Amsterdam were sent home Sunday after going out for a night of drinking, sources familiar with the incident told NBC News.
One of the agents was found intoxicated in a hotel hallway Sunday morning by hotel security, who contacted the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands, the sources said.
The embassy then alerted Secret Service managers on the presidential trip.
The agents were put on administrative leave but have not faced any other disciplinary action, the sources said.
Secret Service officials insist that they have raised their standards and toughened the codes of conduct following a scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, in April 2012. That's when a dozen agents and officers had gone out, drank heavily and then brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms prior to the president’s arrival.
Obama landed in the Netherlands on Monday for a week of diplomacy in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
— Chuck Todd and Becky Bratu
