Former Secret Service agent: Agents accused in prostitution scandal "weren't thinking"

(CBS News) A former Secret Service agent who's running for the Senate said on "CBS This Morning" Tuesday that he felt "disgust" and "embarrassment" about the prostitution scandal involving nearly a dozen agents that has consumed the agency tasked with protecting the president.

"Unfortunately, they weren't thinking," Dan Bongino told Erica Hill and Charlie Rose. "It was an awful decision, and the only thing we can take from this is nobody, and I mean nobody, is trying to paint this with any kind- put lipstick on it at all. They're all saying, 'embarrassing,' 'disgusted,' 'we apologize,' 'embarrassed the president.' 'We let the boss down,' as (Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman) Gen. (Martin) Dempsey said, is an adequate term."

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Bongino, the Republican nominee to face off this fall against Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., served on the agency's presidential protection detail and knows some of the agents directly involved with the scandal. After being pulled from President Obama's trip to Colombia, the 11 agents were placed on administrative leave and had their top secret security clearance revoked pending an investigation into allegations that they cavorted with prostitutes.

"In 150 years, this is probably the most embarrassing episode we've had to suffer through," Bongino said.

Bongino said the incident would lead to some "dramatic" changes at the Secret Service. His experience includes leading an advance team to a foreign destination ahead of a president's trip, and he didn't come across the kind of behavior in the allegations against the 11 agents in Colombia.

"I've never seen it personally," said Bongino. "Has it happened before? I'm sure it has. Is it endemic to the entire agency? No. This is not my experience with the Secret Service at all."

Above, watch former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino discuss the prostitution scandal