text: 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. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| The frontlines of the sniper wars on the streets of Syria. 
   
   CARTAGENA, Colombia | 
   
   CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - Gracing the cover of the latest Time magazine and trumpeting his nation's security achievements, President Juan Manuel Santos had hoped the Summit of the Americas would showcase the modern face of Colombia. 
   
   Yet global media coverage from this weekend's gathering of more than 30 heads of state has focused instead on a scandal after members of U.S. President Barack Obama's security detail were caught with prostitutes in historic Cartagena. 
   
   The hotel incident - which has seen 11 Secret Service agents sent home and five servicemen grounded - outraged Colombians proud of their often-vilified country's push to become a major regional player. 
   
   "Colombia is not just prostitutes, drugs and violence, it's much more than that," said Maria Fernanda Martinez, 35, a Colombian tourist on vacation in Cartagena. "There are many better things to show the world." 
   
   U.S. soldiers and contractors backing Colombia in its fight against drug traffickers and Marxist insurgents have in the past been involved in sex scandals in rural areas near army bases. 
   
   A largely successful decade-old offensive against the rebels and cocaine cartels has allowed Colombia to begin shedding its international notoriety for violence and crime. 
   
   "The Colombian Comeback" was how Time put it, below a black-and-white portrait of Santos on its latest edition. "From nearly failed state to emerging global player - in less than a decade." 
   
   "HOW SHAMEFUL" 
   
   Headlines over the weekend, however, were less flattering for the host of the Organization of American States (OAS) meeting. 
   
   "The only media coverage of the summit is the scandal of the gringos and the prostitutes," said one Colombian diplomat based in Europe, who asked not to be named. "How shameful." 
   
   Details of the saga unfolded just as the heads of state began discussing weighty issues such as trade protectionism, Cuba and the war on drugs. 
   
   "I never thought the summit agenda had much hope of being achieved," former opposition presidential candidate Carlos Gaviria told Reuters. "But it turned into more of a media sideshow, a ridiculous distraction, than a serious political meeting of presidents." 
   
   The incident unfolded when the Americans brought a number of prostitutes back to a beachfront hotel near where Obama was due to stay when he arrived the following day, a local police source said. 
   
   At least one member of the security contingent flashed his badge and demanded that hotel staff allow him to remain with a woman, the source said. 
   
   Prostitution is legal in "tolerance zones" in Colombia, though also widely practiced outside those areas without sanction. 
   
   Cartagena residents, who had hoped to project an image of warmth and hospitality to the world, tutted their disapproval. 
   
   "This links Cartagena with prostitution and that's not fair," said Maria Consuelo Ortega, 33, who works in a store in the colonial quarter of the city. 
   
   "How can it be forgotten when it's linked to Obama?" 
   
   (Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Brian Ellsworth and Xavier Briand)
target: – 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.