An embarrassing scandal involving prostitutes and Secret Service agents deepened Saturday as 11 agents were placed on leave, and the agency designed to protect President Barack Obama had to offer regret for the mess overshadowing his diplomatic mission to Latin America. 
 
 President Barack Obama sits in front of a large video screen displaying an image of a U.S. national flag during a three-way conversation with Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and Colombia's President... (Associated Press) 
 
 People walk past Hotel El Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday April 14, 2012. The Secret Service sent home some of its agents for misconduct that occurred at the hotel before President Barack Obama's... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama applauds as Colombian singer Shakira arrives, below, as Uruguay's President Jose Mujica stands behind during the arrival ceremony at the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena,... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama smiles to people in the audience taking his picture during the arrival ceremony at the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday April 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn... (Associated Press) 
 
 The controversy also expanded to the U.S. military, which announced five service members staying at the same hotel as the agents in Colombia may have been involved in misconduct as well. They were confined to their quarters in Colombia and ordered not to have contact with others. 
 
 All the alleged activities took place before Obama arrived Friday in this Colombian port city for meetings with 33 other regional leaders. 
 
 Put together, the allegations were an embarrassment for an American president on foreign soil and threatened to upend White House efforts to keep his trip focused squarely on boosting economic ties with fast-growing Latin America. Obama was holding two days of meetings at the Summit of the Americas with leaders from across the vast region before heading back to Washington Sunday night. 
 
 The Secret Service did not disclose the nature of the misconduct. The Associated Press confirmed on Friday that it involved prostitutes. 
 
 The White House said Obama had been briefed about the incidents but would not comment on his reaction. 
 
 "The president does have full confidence in the United States Secret Service," presidential spokesman Jay Carney said when asked. 
 
 Carney insisted the matter was more a distraction for the media than Obama. But Secret Service assistant director Paul Morrissey said in a statement: "We regret any distraction from the Summit of the Americas this situation has caused." 
 
 Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told the AP after he was briefed on the investigation on Saturday that "close to" all 11 of the agents involved had brought women back to their rooms at a hotel separate from where Obama is now staying. 
 
 The New York Republican said the women were "presumed to be prostitutes" but investigators were interviewing the agents. 
 
 The lawmaker also offered new details about the controversy. 
 
 King said he was told that anyone visiting the hotel overnight was required to leave identification at the front desk and leave the hotel by 7 a.m. When a woman failed to do so, it raised questions among hotel staff and police, who investigated. They found the woman with the agent in the hotel room and a dispute arose over whether the agent should have paid her. 
 
 King said he was told that the agent did eventually pay the woman. 
 
 The incident was reported to the U.S. embassy, prompting further investigation, King said 
 
 The 11 employees in question were special agents and Uniformed Division Officers. None were assigned to directly protect Obama. All were sent home and replaced, Morrissey said, given "the nature of the allegations" and a zero tolerance policy on personal misconduct. 
 
 The Secret Service says the incidents have had no bearing on its ability to provide security for Obama's stay in Colombia. 
 
 Another jolt came Saturday when the U.S. Southern Command said five service members assigned to support the Secret Service violated their curfew and may have been involved in inappropriate conduct. Carney said it was part of the same incident involving the Secret Service. 
 
 As for the apparent misconduct by the military members, Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said he was "disappointed by the entire incident" and said the behavior was "not in keeping with the professional standards expected of members of the United States military." 
 
 Col. Scott Malcom, chief of public affairs for Southern Command, said of the five service members: "The only misconduct I can confirm is that they were violating the curfew established. He said he had seen the news reports about the Secret Service agents involved in alleged prostitution at the hotel but could not confirm whether the service members also were involved. 
 
 The military is investigating. 
 
 The Secret Service agents at the center of the allegations had stayed at Cartagena's five-star Hotel Caribe. Several members of the White House staff and press corps subsequently stayed at the hotel. 
 
 King credited the Secret Service director for acting quickly to remove the agents in question and replace them before Obama's arrival. 
 
 A hotel employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said the agents arrived at the beachfront hotel about a week ago and said the agents left the hotel Thursday, a day before Obama and other regional leaders arrived for the weekend summit. 
 
 Three waiters interviewed by the AP at the hotel described the agents as drinking heavily during their stay. 
 
 On Friday, the hotel began filling up with the delegations of some of the more than 30 countries whose leaders are convening for the weekend Summit of the Americas. 
 
 The hotel's public relations director, Ana Beatriz Angel, refused to comment on the incident, which she said "concerns only and exclusively the U.S. government." 
 
 On the steamy streets of Cartagena, a resort city with a teeming prostitution trade, there was condemnation for the Secret Service agents for what residents saw as abusing their station and dishonoring their country. 
 
 Edwin Yepes, a souvenir vendor, said "they are supposed to come here and set an example. We are an inferior culture, and so it's better if they don't come than if they damage our image of them." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Ben Feller in Washington, Frank Bajak and Pedro Mendoza in Cartagena and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this story. ||||| Story highlights Evidence "indicates that this likely was not just a one-time incident," senator says 
 
 The scandal first focused on Secret Service agents and military personnel 
 
 They were in Colombia in advance of Obama's trip to a summit there 
 
 Three Drug Enforcement Administration agents are under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, a congressional source confirms to CNN. 
 
 According to this source, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-New York, and committee investigators have been "aware of this for some time." 
 
 News of the investigation comes on the heels of a prostitution scandal involving U.S. military and Secret Service agents who were detailed to Colombia in April in advance of President Barack Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas. Several Secret Service members have been dismissed as a result of investigations. 
 
 Public hearing scheduled on Secret Service prostitution scandal 
 
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 CNN spoke with three senators -- one of whom asked not to be identified -- who confirmed the investigation concerning the DEA agents. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said senators found out about the matter a week ago but were asked to keep it quiet until the agents were removed from Colombia. 
 
 "Not good," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which on Wednesday will hear the first testimony from Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan. 
 
 Collins released a statement later Monday, saying, "It's disturbing that we may be uncovering a troubling culture that spans more than one law enforcement agency. 
 
 "In addition to the Secret Service scandal, we now learn that at least two DEA agents apparently entertained female foreign national masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the agents. The evidence uncovered thus far indicates that this likely was not just a one-time incident," Collins added in her statement. 
 
 DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said the matter has been turned over to the Justice Department inspector general. 
 
 "The Drug Enforcement Administration was provided information from the Secret Service unrelated to the Cartagena hotel Secret Service incident, which DEA immediately followed up on, making DEA employees available to be interviewed by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General. DEA takes allegations of misconduct very seriously and will take appropriate personnel action, if warranted, upon the conclusion of the OIG investigation," Payne said. 
 
 In addition, Collins and one other senator told CNN that one additional Secret Service agent has come forward in recent days and volunteered to his superiors that he paid a prostitute while in Colombia in advance of President Obama's recent trip there. An aide to Collins said the Secret Service is telling the senator's office that the agent says he thought he was paying for a massage, not for prostitution. 
 
 Because that agent came forward on his own, he will not lose his job, one of the senators said. ||||| President Obama said Sunday that he wants the investigation of the prostitution scandal that led 11 U.S. Secret Service agents to be returned home from Cartagena, Colombia, where they had been sent to provide protection for him, to be thorough and rigorous. 
 
 During a news conference Sunday at the conclusion of the Summit of the Americas, Obama said he expects all agents to conduct themselves with “dignity and probity” and all U.S. personnel to “observe the highest standards” when serving abroad. 
 
 If the allegations that the men brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms on Wednesday prove true, Obama said, “then, of course, I’ll be angry.” 
 
 “We’re representing the people of the United States,” he said. 
 
 Obama’s remarks were his first about the growing scandal. The Secret Service placed the men on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. The agents — who were removed from Cartagena on Thursday and replaced with a new team shortly before Obama’s arrival Friday — were returned to Washington and interviewed by the Office of Professional Responsibility, the agency’s internal affairs unit. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Defense Department has ordered its own inquiry after determining that five of its personnel, who were staying at the same hotel as the Secret Service agents, violated curfew on Wednesday night. All of the U.S. personnel were part of Obama’s advance team that was preparing logistics and security for his arrival. 
 
 The alleged misconduct came to light after one of the agents became involved in a dispute with a woman Thursday morning over a payment, and Colombian police reported the matter to the U.S. Embassy. 
 
 The controversy has shifted some attention away from Obama’s trip to the economic summit, at least in the United States, where the media have focused on the accusations of heavy drinking and womanizing. 
 
 Obama was asked about the matter by a reporter in his joint news conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Obama made a point to praise the Secret Service in general, emphasizing that the agency does “very hard work under very stressful circumstances.” 
 
 “I’m very grateful for what they do,” he said. “I will wait until the full investigation [is completed] until I pass final judgment.” 
 
 Lawmakers in Washington were pressing Sunday for more details about the investigation. 
 
 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), whose panel maintains jurisdiction over all federal agencies, said he has reason to believe that more than 11 agents were involved. 
 
 “We think the number might be higher, and we’re asking for the exact amount of all the people who, quote, were involved,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” 
 
 Issa did not elaborate on that statement, and his office did not respond to follow-up questions from The Washington Post. 
 
 On the talk show, Issa also said: “This kind of a breach is a breach in the federal workforce’s most elite protective unit, and they don’t just protect the president, of course; they protect the Cabinet members, the vice president, the first family, candidates. So when you look at this, you realize if you can have this kind of breakdown, one that could lead to blackmail . . . then we’ve got to ask: Where are the systems in place to prevent this in the future?” 
 
 The Secret Service agents allegedly involved are a mix of special agents, who provide personal protection for the president and other high-level officials, and members of the uniformed division, who handle logistical support and building security, officials briefed on the investigation have said. 
 
 Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said a lawyer representing the agents did not want to discuss the matter with reporters until it had been adjudicated. 
 
 Staff writer Joe Davidson contributed to this report.
– The Summit of the Americas is over, but the prostitution scandal involving Secret Service agents keeps on going, overshadowing what was supposed to be a chance to showcase Colombia to the international community, reports Reuters. "From nearly failed state to emerging global player—in less than a decade" is what Time called Colombia on its latest cover. But because of the scandal, the old Colombia is being broadcast around the world. "The only media coverage of the summit is the scandal of the gringos and the prostitutes," said one Colombian diplomat. "How shameful." As for President Obama, he finally weighed in on the scandal yesterday, calling for a thorough and rigorous investigation into what happened, reports the Washington Post. While defending the Secret Service in general, Obama said if allegations about misconduct prove to be accurate, “then, of course, I'll be angry," he said. That investigation will be expanded beyond Colombia to look at longer patterns of behavior in the Secret Service, said Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of a House panel on government oversight. "Things like this don't happen once if they didn't happen before," said Issa.