Free Republic

Thousands of sensitive assets belonging to U.S. Secret Service agents, including firearms, computer laptops, work badges, telephones and even motor vehicles, have been lost during the past 15 years, according to documents obtained by nonprofit government watchdog Judicial Watch. “This is supposedly an elite law enforcement agency — how did all this equipment get stolen?” or lost. “This is alarming. Every American should be alarmed about this,” Judicial Watch’s Irene Garcia told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Secret Service agents reported 11,780 lost or stolen assets between fiscal years 2001 and 2016, according to the data Judicial Watch received, although...

NBC News’ Kristen Welker reported via Twitter Friday afternoon that “Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan will announce his resignation today according to multiple sources.” Sullivan has overseen the Secret Service since 2006 and was its director during the agency’s high-profile prostitution scandal last year. 12 Secret Service agents and several other military personnel were allegedly involved with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia in April 2012. Those agents were sent there to set up advance security ahead of a visit by President Obama.

What can we learn from allegations against a half-dozen supervisors in the Government Services Administration for wasting, and perhaps stealing, taxpayer dollars on foolishness in Las Vegas, and against a dozen Secret Service agents for dangerously procuring prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, while there to prepare for a visit by the president? If the allegations are true -- and they seem to be -- the behavior of these government workers reflects a view of government hardly consistent with the idea of limited government and public trust. The United States is the only nation in history founded on the principle that...

Administration meltdowns are hardly novel. In almost every presidency there comes a moment when sheer chaos takes hold, whether self-induced or as a result of an outside crisis. Vietnam had effectively destroyed Lyndon Johnson by 1967. Watergate unraveled the Richard Nixon administration, as the disgraced president resigned in the face of certain impeachment. Gerald Ford could not whip inflation and was not re-elected. One-termer Jimmy Carter was undone by the Iranian hostage crisis and skyrocketing oil prices. For a time, it seemed that Ronald Reagan's second term might not survive the Iran-Contra scandal. George H.W. Bush could not be re-elected...