WASHINGTON (AP) - Three more Secret Service employees have been forced out of the government, bringing to nine the number of people who have lost their jobs in the prostitution scandal roiling the
agency. President Barack Obama said the employees at the center of
the sordid episode were "knuckleheads," but not representative of
the agency that protects his family in the glare of public life.

Two employees have resigned and a third is having his national
security clearance revoked, the Secret Service said Tuesday. The
employee whose clearance is being revoked can appeal the decision.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, said one of the resigning agents stayed at the Hilton
hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, where Obama stayed for the Summit of
Americas. The others stayed at the nearby Hotel Caribe.

Two others have been cleared of serious misconduct. Last week,
six employees, including two supervisors, were forced out and
another was cleared of serious wrongdoing. The three who were
cleared will still face "appropriate administrative action", the
Secret Service said.

The scandal erupted after a fight over payment between a
Colombian prostitute and a Secret Service employee spilled into the
hallway of the Hotel Caribe. A dozen military personnel have also
been implicated and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said this week
they have had their security clearances suspended.

Obama acknowledged Tuesday that the scandal was "a little
distracting" and pressed for perspective.

"These guys are incredible. They protect me. They protect
Michelle. They protect the girls. They protect our officials all
around the world," the president said on NBC's "Late Night with
Jimmy Fallon."

"A couple of knuckleheads shouldn't detract from what they
do," Obama added. "What these guys were thinking, I don't know.
That's why they're not there anymore."

Even as Obama spoke, officials on Capitol Hill were probing for
any misconduct in the agency in the past decade and girding for the
first public accounting of the incident that embarrassed the Obama
administration.

A dozen Secret Service personnel and another 12 military
enlistees preparing for Obama's visit to Cartagena have been under
investigation for cavorting with prostitutes.

As many as 20 prostitutes were involved with the group,
officials say, and none are believed to be underage.

Local law enforcement intervened on the prostitute's behalf
during the fight over payment. Paid sex is legal in Cartagena but
violates codes of conduct for U.S. personnel who were working
there.

In a similar but unrelated incident, Panetta said Tuesday that
three Marines on a U.S. Embassy security team and one embassy staff member were punished for allegedly pushing a prostitute out of a
car in Brasilia, Brazil, last year after a dispute over payment.
Panetta, speaking in Brasilia, said he had "no tolerance for that
kind of conduct."

A senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to
discuss an investigation, said in the wake of the Cartagena scandal
the woman involved in the Brasilia incident has hired a lawyer and
is suing the embassy. The official said the woman broke her
collarbone when she was pushed from the car.

The military investigation into the Cartagena incident is
continuing.

The Colombia scandal has been widely denounced by official
Washington, but it's a delicate political matter in an election
year with the presidency and congressional majorities at stake. All
sides have praised Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan's swift
action and thorough investigation, in part because he's spent
significant time keeping key lawmakers in the loop. Pentagon
officials too are investigating and are expected to brief Senate
Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and ranking Republican John McCain on Wednesday.

Even so, at least four congressional committees are
investigating on the grounds that letting foreign nationals near
U.S. personnel with sensitive information about the president's
visit is a national security risk. Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano is expected to face tough questions Wednesday from the Senate Judiciary Committee on such matters as whether the
agency's inspector general has launched an independent
investigation.

Another Senate panel is looking for a pattern of misconduct.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, told reporters Tuesday that he'll
hold hearings on the service's culture and whether clear rules
exist on how agents should behave when they are off duty but on
assignment.

"I mean you think they wouldn't need that but maybe they do,"
Lieberman said. He added that his investigators are taking a longer
view and beginning to follow up on tips that "whistle-blower
people" have called in. He declined to provide details.

"I want to ask questions about whether there is any other evidence of misconduct by Secret Service agents in the last five or 10 years," Lieberman said. "If so what was done about it, could something have been done to have prevented what happened in Cartagena? And now that it has happened, what do they intend to do?"

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.