A call from a hotel reporting that a Secret Service agent was trying to force his way into a woman's room has set in motion an internal investigation and sent tremors through an agency that is still trying to restore its elite reputation.
The incident at Washington's Hay-Adams Hotel last spring came a year after the agency was roiled by a prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, prompting vows from senior officials to curb a male-dominated culture of hard partying and other excesses.
The service named its first female director, Julia Pierson, seven months ago, and a broad inspector general's report on the agency's culture that was launched in the wake of Cartagena is expected to be released in coming weeks.