This
CBS News story goes into more detail on the first option...that there were several people involved and that it actually happened.
I have read the book about the Secret Service by Ron Kessler. It was a light read that contained mostly anecdotal information about the Secret Service (no information about procedures, of course) and the presidents who they served since Kennedy. Lots of stories about what assholes the presidents and their families were (with some notable exceptions). So, mainly a gossip book. There was some discussion of how poorly financed the Secret Service was and how they had to do much with little. Kessler works for NewsMax so take that for what it's worth.
I actually have personal experience with the Secret Service. In one of my previous employment situations I spent about a week working with one of these same SS advance teams. All in all, I was with the team for about 60 hours prior to a visit by the first President Bush. If there was any lack of funding that prevented them from doing their job properly at that time (twenty years ago) I did not see it. I will not believe that the manpower for a presidential visit is any less now than it was then. It involves several dozen SS personnel and about a dozen people from the US Army Communications group. The amount of detail in preparations is staggering. I cannot imagine how they could have done what they did and found any time for hookers and/or heavy drinking (also alleged) and still complete their work in the time provided before the arrival of the president. I mean, I was with them for 60 hours but they were working around the clock with little to no time for sleep let alone fun and games with hookers. So...for me, this is all a little bit hard to believe.
Now, on the other hand, the Bushes and the Reagans have utilized this stuff a lot less than Clinton and O'Bongo. The Democrat presidents seem to view Air Force One as their own personal travel service and, according to Kessler, treat the SS protection detail as personal slaves. So maybe there has been some fatigue set in over the last three and a half years as O'Bongo and family have jetted all over the world at several times the frequency of GWB, his father or President Reagan. If that is the case I don't see it as an excuse for falling down on the job...they should have quit rather than allow standards to fall. But I can see the fatigue factor. As I said, you would not believe the amount of
advance work that goes into
each and every stop a president makes outside of DC and the immediate area.
From Kessler's book:
In the summer of 2008, the Secret Service asked for and received an extra $9.5 million to cover unexpected cost of protecting the candidates, in addition to the $106.7 million already budgeted. In all the Secret Service protected the candidates on 5,141 travel stops. More than 2.8 million people passed throughout the thirty five hundred Secret Service magnetometers.
This did not include screening 1.5 million people at events attended by the president and other protects, or the screening at the two national conventions, in Denver and Saint Paul...
From
FNC:New details are emerging about the incident at the Hotel Caribe, where the Secret Service advance team was staying ahead of Obama's three-day visit to the country.
A senior law enforcement official said the dispute started when hotel employees witnessed inappropriate behavior.
An employee approached at least one Secret Service agent and demanding that he pay extra money for having an additional overnight guest in his room.
The agent balked, which eventually resulted in a confrontation and forced diplomatic intervention.
The official said the guest involved apparently was a prostitute. It remains unclear whether more agents and more prostitutes were involved.
A hotel employee told the Associated Press the agents were drinking heavily during their stay.
The senior law enforcement official stressed the matter is under investigation and officials are still trying to corroborate initial details.
And this:
The embarrassing incident has quickly eclipsed issues addressed at the summit such as foreign trade, the economy; drug trafficking, immigration and collaboration among the 33 Western Hemisphere countries.
I remember when the USA was too respected for anything like this to happen. By "this" I mean, either the SS screwing up or a foreign gov setting us up for something like this.