Related: Read the Entire Inspector General's Report (PDF) 
 
 The report discloses an email in which Ed Lowery, the agency's assistant director for training, wrote that "some information that he might be find embarrassing needs to get out." AP Photo Watchdog: Secret Service leaked information on Chaffetz 
 
 The Secret Service leaked sensitive personal information to the press about Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz as the Utah Republican was investigating the beleaguered agency, an inspector general's report said Wednesday. The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General issued a report on Wednesday that accused Secret Service Assistant Director Edward Lowery and other agency officials of plotting to leak information about Chaffetz, including his unsuccessful attempt to join the organization. Lowery had been promoted to the post of assistant director for training just a month earlier as part of an effort that Secret Ser­vice Director Joseph Clancy said would reform the agency after a series of high-profile security lapses. The Chaffetz file, contained in the restricted database, had been peeked at by about 45 Secret Service agents, some of whom shared it with their colleagues in March and April, the report found. This prying began after a contentious March 24 House hearing at which Chaffetz scolded the director and the agency for its series of security gaffes and misconduct. The ­hearing sparked anger inside the ­agency. Related: Long List of Breaches and Scandals for Secret Service Under Obama 
 
 Over the next nine days, the job application was accessed about 60 more times, the report says, by employees in the public relations office, the countersurveillance division, the division overseeing protection for former President Bill Clinton, the training division and at least 15 domestic and overseas field offices. “These agents work for an agency whose motto — ‘Worthy of trust and confidence’ — is engraved in marble in the lobby of their headquarters building,” Roth wrote in his summary report. “Few could credibly argue that the agents involved in this episode lived up to this motto.” 
 
 Chaffetz issued this response Wednesday night in a statement to The Washington Post: “Certain lines should never be crossed. The unauthorized access and distribution of my personal information crossed that line." It was a tactic designed to intimidate and embarrass me and frankly, it is intimidating,” the Utah Republican said in a statement. “It’s scary to think about all the possible dangers in having your personal information exposed.” 
 
 The Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the Secret Service earlier this year after a series of embarrassing security incidents at the White House. "The work of the committee, however, will continue. I remain undeterred in conducting proper and rigorous oversight.” 
 
 Clancy said in an e-mailed statement earlier Wednesday: “I have reviewed the DHS OIG Report and have provided additional information to the DHS IG. The Secret Service takes employee misconduct very seriously, and as I have stated before, any employee, regardless of rank or seniority, who has committed misconduct will be held accountable. On Wednesday, the Secret Service issued a statement apologizing to Chaffetz for "this wholly avoidable and embarrassing misconduct" and promising that those responsible would be held accountable. Additionally, I will continue to review policies and practices to address employee misconduct and demand the highest level of integrity of all our employees.” 
 
 After reviewing the IG report, the oversight panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md. ), the top Democrat on the panel, said the Secret Service should issue an “immediate apology.” 
 
 “Although the Inspector General identified no evidence of political motivation or influence, I believe in fundamental fairness, and those who are unwilling or unable to meet the highest of ethical standards should not be a part of the Secret Service,” Cummings said in a statement.
– Secret Service agents played dirty when a congressman criticized the agency, according to a government watchdog report. During Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz's investigation of the service, top agents dug into his files and decided to leak information about the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, including the fact that he had unsuccessfully applied to join the service in 2003, reports the Washington Post. "Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out," Assistant Director Edward Lowery wrote in an email on March 31 this year. "Just to be fair." Within days, a news website reported on Chaffetz's failed application, the Post reports. The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General found that in the space of a few days, 45 Secret Service agents accessed Chaffetz's confidential file, Politico reports. Only four of the agents could claim to have a legitimate need to see the information and the others violated federal privacy laws, according to the report, which stresses that Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy wasn't aware of the behavior, NBC News reports. The agency has apologized and Chaffetz has issued a statement slamming the agency for using "a tactic designed to intimidate and embarrass" him. "Certain lines should never be crossed," he said. "The unauthorized access and distribution of my personal information crossed that line."