11 secret service personnel and 10 department of defense personnel. government officials familiar with the case also tell me tonight, all 11 secret service personnel had their security clearances revoked effective today. effective today they can get those back if they are cleared. all 11 have been interviewed at least once by agency investigators. i'm told those under investigation for among other things bringing prostitutes back to a hotel secured for members of the american delegation were not all together. but had been socializing at several cartagena nightclubs. peter king told wolf blitzer he's been told 11 women were brought back to the hotel where the secret service agents were staying. >> this is a serious, serious violation of everything the secret service stands for. what these 11 agents did put the potentially puts any president at risk. puts themselves at risk. leaves themselves open to blackmail and to threats. >> jessica yellin is here with me. as the investigation goes on, they are insisting the president was never at risk. that it's embarrassing. it's humiliating. but that he was never at risk. when you gauktalk about 11 secr service agencies, ten members of the military -- >> it's not ideal, john, to say the very least. the reason they say he wasn't at risk it was several days before the president orifd. and because they make the point that even if a housekeeper were to come into their room, they are always careful about hide anything sensitive materials. never leaving out anything that could be compromising. at the same time i've spoken to a long list of former secret service agents today and some current government officials who say the one thing they are taught from day one is never mess with prostitutes because there's always a threat down the line of possible blackmail. >> i've known the director of the secret service mark sullivan for some time. he meets with every new agent and officer and briefs them and talks about character and the reputation of the agency and their own and specifically raises things like this. but he's the director. highly regarded i'm told by the ho homeland security secretary janet napolitano. >> the body language right now is, no, at this moment, let the secret service do its own investigation and let them handle it for now. as you point out, it's an election year. the president has to show leadership. there's a scandal at the general services administration. and the director of the secret service has been there since 2006 under his watch. we also saw the salahi scandal when the kret service took responsibility for letting in the party crashers. so you know, that does suggest that this has been a long time director and perhaps something could come down the line. >> i covered the white house for 8 1/2 years. did a lot of thee trips. there is drinking involved. they are often in these clubs overseas. it was very obvious when prostitutes approached the american delegation. guys with money. sometimes the secret service, the military case, big strapping guys who -- everybody knows who you are is the point i'm trying to get at. but 11 secret service members. 10 members of the military. i did it for 8 1/2 years. never heard or saw anything like this. >> what was most surprising to me, and i agree. you get there early. you always see people will go out and there be some partying. i was surprised they took them back to the staff hotel. because there is always this culture within the secret service prove tecti iof protect of safety. even if the president is there or if the hotel hasn't been secured yet. they're vigilant about making sure that hotel, even though the president wasn't going there, there was going to be white house staff, perhaps other administration staff there, and that's what was most surprising. >> may have ruined the careers of other friends, too. saw the security breach happening. other careers could be hurt as well. jess, thanks. today the chairman of the joint chiefs staff admitted to cnn the prostitution scandal was a distraction during the president's regional summit and the chairman apologized. >> we are embarrassed. i can't -- you said how embarrassed is the military? i can speak for myself and the -- my fellow chiefs were embarrassed by what occurred in colombia, though we're not exactly sure what it is. so we let the boss down because nobody is talking about what went on in colombia other than this incident. >> answering a question from our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. an extraordinary public apology from the commander in chief's top military adviser. what's happening behind the scenes? what's the sense of the investigation? >> let's first look at the optics. general dempsey, of course the president's top military adviser saying we let the boss down. behind the scenes now, a full-blown investigation is under way. they believe that there are at least five members of the u.s. army that were involved in this situation and perhaps five more. a preliminary fact-finding investigation began already in colombia with someone -- a military person who was on the ground. an investigating officer is expected to land in cartagena later today and continue the investigation. they are going to talk to people. they are going to gather whatever information they can. but one of the things that's so fascinating here is, again, the discussion not directly involved with the president of the united states. only in support of his trip down there. but they will not say what these military people, what their job actually was because anything, of course, to do with presidential security is always top secret. so we don't even know what these people were doing and the pentagon is indicating it may never say publicly what they were doing, what their official jobs were on this trip, john. >> barbara, the same question that's being asked about the secret service. is this a bad couple of days? bad couple of apples? maybe as many as ten in the military or is this a sign that perhaps this has happened before and there's a cultural problem. they just never got caught. >> well, it's the same thing you and jessica were just talking about to be very candid. of course there's drinking in the u.s. military and, of course, people in the u.s. military engage in prostitutes. that happens. but it's the question of doing this on the presidential trip. secretary panetta made it very clear when he was asked about this that he expects the u.s. military to behave appropriately around the world wherever they go and that this fell far short of standards. it is the same concern. alcohol, behavior aside, were they open to the possibility of blackmail? were they open to being victims of criminal behavior? who exactly was in that hotel with them? john? >> barbara starr live at the pentagon. thanks so much. in a moment we'll have darrell issa what he's learning about the sex scandal and the spending scandal. and later, today's move to change judges in the case of the neighborhood guard who admits to shooting teenager trayvon martin. greetings from the windy city of chicago. people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. standard keyless access, and standard leather-trimmed seats, then your choice is obvious. the lexus es. it's complete luxury in a class full of compromises. see your lexus dealer. today is gonna be anry in aimportant day for us.mises. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. classic and a feisty drama on capitol hill this afternoon. outraged lawmakers confronted the disgraced government gshls accused of wasting nearly $1 million of your tax money. dana bash was at today's hearing on the scandal at the general services administration or the gsa. >> reporter: one thing for republicans to criticize obama officials. when the committee's top democrat rips into them, you know it's bad. >> invited personal friends to the conference writing, and i quote, and this is simply incredible, quote, we'll get you guys a room near us and we'll pick up the room tab. could be a blast. why not enjoy it while we have it and while we can. ain't going to last forever, end of quote. well, mr. nealy it stops now. >> reporter: mr. nealy is jeff nealy. the gsa official who organized the lavish 2010 las vegas conference costing taxpayers more than $800,000. thanks to a committee subpoena he showed up but wouldn't answer questions. >> on the advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer. >> reporter: with cameras rolling -- >> did you attend the 2010 western regional conference? >> reporter: darrell issa still asked half a dozen questions? neely was eventually excused. other gsa witnesses took a very different approach. fall on their swords? hardly. they dove on them. >> i am extremely aggrieved by the gall of a handful of people to misuse federal tax dollars. >> reporter: martha johnson was gsa administrator forced to resign two weeks ago. she was briefed 11 months ago on a conference excess, including neely's role but suggested she needed the final report to take disciplinary action. >> i personally apologize to the american people. i will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment. >> reporter: much of the focus was on the man who left. jeff neely. they grilled johnson on why she still gave him a $9,000 bonus. >> and you gave him a $9,000 bonus. it just seems almost unthinkable. >> reporter: despite the apologies, this fiery forum allowed lawmakers to express outrage. >> the senior executives were entitled to bonuses. i apologize. i did not mean entitlement. >> i think you did mean entitlement. >> reporter: a central question is whether the white house knew about this and stat on the information. under pressure and visibly uncomfortable, the gsa chief of staff revealed he did brief the white house some 11 months ago. in that questioning, john, the house chairman darrell issa got out of the chief of staff there that he told his contact in the white house counsel's office about the fact that this report is coming out almost a year ago. that seems to contradict the timeline that we got as reporters from the white house which said that they didn't know about this inspector general report until last month. i can tell you just to follow up on that, michael robertson, the gsa chief of staff put out a statement saying he wants to clarify his point and that what he meant was he mentioned in passing the existence of this ig report to his contact at the white house counsel's office. >> you mentioned that often at some of these oversight hearings the democrats are mute. the republicans are conducting oversight of a democratic association. the democrats are largely mute or try to help the white house. in this case, they were so adamant to jump in and share their outrage. where are we going next? >> where we're going next is more hear,s like this. and to that point, not just in the house where republicans are in charge but also in the senate. two hearings are going to be this week in the senate. one by the number two democrat in the senate. he's holding a hearing. they're going to be trying to focus a little more on the fact that the gsa excess spending didn't just occur in the obama administration but democrats get it that they know that this is very, very bad. this is why people really are mad at washington. so they want to share in the outrage, not push back against it. >> senior congressional correspondent dana bash. as dana noted, the chairman today is darrell issa of california. he's with us live. let's dig a little deeper. you asked the question of the gsa chief of staff. now he's trying to clarify his answer saying he mentioned this is passing in the white house 11 months ago. the white house told dana in her reporting, oh, we just learned about this last month. smoke or fire? >> you know, it's a little of both. the real outrage should be that the white house would say they took quick action when, clearly, these political appointees knew about it a long time ago. if it turns out that people more central to the white house, additionally, knew, that's troubling. but let's understand the most important thing that you saw on a bipartisan basis today is a recognition that there is huge amounts of waste and excess that is built up within the federal system that needs to be rung out. until we ring that out, we cannot come back with larger and larger budgets asking the american people and for that matter the creditors of our debt to pony up more money. very clearly, this is just the tip of the iceberg. >> so help me. if it's the tip of the iceberg, help me. you have mr. neely who was inviting his friends who knew what he was doing come in. i'm bad, but what the hell. let's do it while we can until we get caught. and he gets a bonus. how does that happen? >> it happens because you had an administrator, even though she had a private sector background, who seemed to use the word entitlement and mean it. you know, these bonuses are over 97% delivered to these individuals meaning that a bonus will not be earned but, in fact, expected. and it's part of the fact that you look at a pay structure with the federal workforce, including the one the president said he froze, and what you end up with is what's called step increases plus bonuses. so the truth is our cost of employing federal workers is rising even after somebody said there was a freeze. watching pay freezes in the government is like watching water freeze. it expands. >> and you heard dana say when it gets to the senate side, some of this conduct, they may find examples back in the bush administration. give me your honest take. is this a bureaucratic culture of corruption? is it any worse, any different with a democratic president or is this a longtime festering nightmare. >> bureaucracies tend to grow and to brag about their growth based on how many individuals they have and how much money they spend. there's no question every administration faces the federal growth of a bureaucracy. some administrations like the reagan administration famously were able to make cuts. other administrations don't do so well. this is one that came in, blamed its predecessor and has had three years to scrub these expenses and clearly hasn't. so there's probably truth to both. the fact is, this is the president's watch. this is my watch. this is the ranking member's watch. and we need to make sure it not only ends here but ends quickly. >> this is embarrassing and outrageous. i want to shift your attention to something that's embarrass, outrageous and humiliating. 11 member thfs secret service accused of bringing prostitutes back to a hotel in cartagena, colombia. ten members of the united states military under investigation for similar conduct. what do you know about this, and at what level are you in connection is it the director of the secret service, the director of homeland security? >> i met with the director today and got his assurances we'd have an open and transparent policy being able to see what he's doing in the way of discovery and then ultimately corrective action. this is an organization with a great history, a history of being disciplined. he was shocked at it. i'm shocked at it. the american people are shocked at it. obviously, if 11 secret service agents and 10 or more military personnel were involved, it's wide enough spread that you have to figure this is not the only time there's been this sort of activity. but at the same time, this is a nonpartisan organization. our u.s. military and the secret service. i think all of us on capitol hill need to take an attitude that we need to know what they are doing, watch it but ultimately let the professionals fix what is broken and then step forward and say we've seen what they've done and the american public can have the kind of confidence they need to have and the behavior that could lead to the safety being, you know, adversely affected for protected individuals. >> in the conversation with director sullivan, what was the most troubling thing. troubling allegation you heard? >> i think the most troubling thing from this director who headed the agency for a while and who in fact, is a 30-year veteran himself is that this is not something he has personally witnessed. he has certainly seen human failures, but the scale of so many people thinking this was okay -- remember, foreign initi nationals are not allowed into the room. that was a violation, even if they weren't prostitutes. just the fact that somebody you don't know gets into a protected area and thus could have an adverse effect on that individual's ability to protect the president. on top of that, a lot of drinking went on. you put those two together, it's unprofessional behavior that has to be fixed now and in the future. >> mr. chairman, appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you. >> take care, sir. mitt romney says president obam should in his words, start packing. next, an unusually hot day. hot day to run 26 miles. as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. welcome back. here's lisa sylvester with the latest news you need to know right now. >> hi, john. afghanistan's president today praised his security forces which took the lead in putting down a wave of insurgent attacks. about 18 hours of fighting came to an end this morning leaving 36 insurgents dead. afghan president hamid karzai tells cnn's christiane amanpour he isn't worried the security situation will deteriorate after u.s. and international troops pull out. >> no, i'm not concerned about that at all. i am rather very confident that once the international forces leave, that the afghan forces will be able to defend their country as they demonstrated yesterday. >> and back in the united states, more than 120 tornadoes tore through the midwest and plains this past weekend. and early warnings are credited with saving many potential victims. the death toll rose to six people today, but the worst damage and only known casualties were found in woodwad, oklahoma, where hundreds of homes are destroyed. in and boston shut down as more than 22,000 marathon runners raced through 80-degree weather. about 4,000 runners dropped out of the annual marathon because of the unseasonable heat. and the winning times were the slowest reported since 1985. even so, the top winners, all kenyans, beat the grueling conditions and the difficult course. even though it w