text: Seattle-based Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne (KIROTV- CBS- COX MEDIA GROUP) just returned from El Salvador, where he interviewed a U.S. government subcontractor who worked extensively with the Secret Service advance team (snipers, K-9 and explosives sweeps) in San Salvador prior to President Obama’s trip there in March of 2011. 
   
   The eyewitness says he joined about a dozen Secret Service agents and a few U.S. military specialists at a strip club in San Salvador a few days before President Obama and his family arrived in El Salvador to meet with its new president, Mauricio Funes. 
   
   This source witnessed the majority of the men drink heavily ("wasted," "heavily intoxicated") at the strip club. He says most of the Secret Service "advance-team" members also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for their cash. Although our source says he told the agents it was a "really bad idea" to take the strippers back to their hotel rooms, several agents bragged that they "did this all the time" and "not to worry about it." Our source says at least two agents had escorts check into their rooms. It is unclear whether the escorts who returned to the hotels were some of the strippers from the same club. 
   
   These alleged incidents in El Salvador occurred a full year prior to recent revelations that secret service agents used prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, on a presidential trip this month. 
   
   To further confirm information provided about behaviors in El Salvador that reportedly occurred in March of 2011, Halsne interviewed the owner of the San Salvador strip club in which the subcontractor said they visited. The strip club’s owner confirmed a large number of U.S. secret service agents (and some military escorts) “descended on his club” that week prior to President Obama’s visit. He claims agents were there at least three nights in a row. "No surprise to me." The owner told Halsne his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting FBI and DEA agents. The owner says his reputation for "security" and "privacy" makes him a popular strip club owner with "those who want to be discreet." He told Halsne during a lengthy interview, he doesn’t allow prostitution inside the club and that all his "girls" are at least 18-years-old. He says the girls can do what they want after work, but he discourages them from making contact with customers at other locations. 
   
   This investigation is still fast-developing. Halsne has names of some of the agents allegedly involved in the partying and has viewed records which add credibility to the subcontractor’s eyewitness testimony. KIRO-TV is currently writing and editing-together a series of television stories for air beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 26. ||||| ADVERTISEMENT 
   
   The station also interviewed the owner of the strip club, who corroborated the allegations. The story is largely similar to the events that led up to an incident in Colombia earlier this month that prompted a widespread investigation into the agency.The Secret Service said Thursday it was investigating the report."The recent investigation in Cartagena has generated several news stories that contain allegations by mostly unnamed sources. Any information that is brought to our attention that can be assessed as credible will be followed up on in an appropriate manner," said Secret Service spokesman Max Milien in a statement.The Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.On Sunday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said he believed that there were instances of misconduct by Secret Service agents prior to the Colombian prostitution scandal that has led to a number of resignations and firings and shaken confidence in the agency tasked with protecting the president."Things like this don't happen once if they didn't happen before," Issa told CBS News. 
   
   Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the report was further evidence of the need for an independent investigation into the agency. 
   
   
   
   “This latest allegation only reaffirms the need for independent investigations by the Inspector General. Regardless of whether the incidents were previously referred to internal investigators, they need to be examined," Grassley said. "There are rumors flying about various incidents over several years about the conduct of Secret Service personnel, as well as other law enforcement and military personnel in locations around the world. The only way to put to rest the rumors of a much wider problem is for the allegations to receive transparent and independent reviews.” 
   
   
   
   But Wednesday, Napolitano insisted that there was no evidence of additional misconduct. 
   
   
   
   “There was nothing in the record to suggest that this behavior would happen and it really was, I think, a huge disappointment to the men and women of the Secret Service,” Napolitano said. 
   
  
target: – Looks like there are teeth to the rumors that the Secret Service's Colombian sex adventure wasn't a one-time thing. The Service is investigating reports that its agents were serviced by prostitutes on a trip to El Salvador in March of last year, according to the Hill. A government subcontractor told KIRO-TV that he visited a strip club with about a dozen Secret Service Advance Team members, and that most got "wasted" and paid the strippers for sexual favors in the VIP section. A couple of agents also brought women (possibly the aforementioned strippers, possibly not) back to their hotel rooms. The source says he warned them that it was a "really bad idea" but they replied that they "did this all the time" and "not to worry about it." The club's owner confirmed the story, saying agents showed up at least three nights that week, though he noted that he did not allow prostitution on-premises. He said the visit was "no surprise to me" because his club was popular with "those who want to be discreet."