Bizarre Secret Service mission pulled agents from White House, sent them to home of employee's personal dispute with neighbor

WASHINGTON – A new government investigation questions a bizarre Secret Service mission that pulled agents from their assignment near the White House and sent them to the rural Maryland home of a headquarters employee embroiled in a personal dispute with a neighbor.

The report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general calls the conduct "problematic," and says that the employee's friendship with high-level Secret Service officials creates the appearance it was motivated by personal relations "rather than furthering official government functions."

Although agency officials insisted that President Obama's safety was not compromised, the memo notes that Obama was at the White House on at least two days that the agents were "a 50-minute drive (without traffic) from the White House" checking on the headquarters employee. 

The agents assigned to the task were from the agency's so-called "Prowler" unit, a rotating team of two special agents who are supposed to respond to suspicious people and situations in and around the White House and national capital area. More