WASHINGTON — three more Secret Service agents are losing their jobs, and a 12th employee has been implicated in the Colombia prostitution scandal and placed on administrative leave, a government official briefed on the investigation said Friday.

Two agents are resigning and another has been fired, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Friday’s developments would make six Secret Service employees forced out of the agency. two supervisors and another employee were forced out earlier this week.

Separately, the lawyer for two Secret Service supervisors said that President Barack Obama’s safety was never at risk and criticized leaks of internal government investigations in the case, signaling a possible strategy for an upcoming legal defense.

The Secret Service also briefed congressional officials behind closed doors about details in the incident in Colombia last weekend.

Eleven Secret Service employees were put on administrative leave following an incident in Colombia that involved at least some agency personnel bringing prostitutes to their hotel rooms. News of the incident, which involves as many as 20 Colombian women, broke a week ago after a fight over payment between a prostitute and a Secret Service agent spilled into the hotel hallway. a 24-year-old Colombian prostitute told The New York Times that the agent agreed to pay her $800 for a night of sex but the next morning offered her only $30. She eventually left the hotel, she told the newspaper, after she was paid $225.

The scandal involved 11 officers and supervisors and at least 11 military members who were working on security before President Barack Obama arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Summit of the Americas. The Pentagon acknowledged Friday that the 11th military person, a member of the Army, was implicated.

Pentagon press secretary George little said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was getting regular updates on the investigation.

“He understands the level of interest in this issue,” little said. “He has serious concerns about the alleged misconduct.”

Little said members of Congress have not yet been briefed on the military investigation but would be “in the near future.”

In a letter to Secret Service employees Monday and obtained by the AP, Director Mark Sullivan said the agency had moved in a “swift, decisive manner immediately after this incident was brought to our attention.” He praised “the overwhelming majority” of employees who he said had acted with the “highest levels of professionalism and ethical behavior.”

“Our job, our mission, our responsibility is to the president, the American people and the individuals we are entrusted to protect,” Sullivan said. “This is not just a matter of honor, although this is critical. It is imperative, as part of our sworn duties, to always act both personally and professionally in a manner that recognizes the seriousness and consequence of our mission.”

The lawyer for ousted Secret Service supervisors David Chaney and Greg Stokes, Lawrence Berger of New York, said Friday that leaks surrounding the investigations “distort the process.”

Regardless of what happened inside hotel rooms, Berger said, it never jeopardized the president’s security. Berger said he could not comment on the woman’s claims about being paid for sex, but he added, “I don’t think anything she has said is material to any of the issues I am pressing with my clients.”

“Nothing that has been reported in the press in any way negatively or adversely impacted the mission of that agency or the safety of the president of the United States,” Berger said.

Chaney and Stokes were forced out of the agency Wednesday. a third agent, who has not been identified and was not a supervisor, resigned.

On Chaney’s Facebook account, which was made inaccessible on Friday, Chaney joked about his work with former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin while he was protecting her in 2008. The AP published a photograph it took of Chaney working in Palin’s protective detail in October 2008 during a campaign rally in Carson, Calif.

“I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?” Chaney wrote after a friend commented on the picture posted in January 2009 on Chaney’s Facebook account.

Speaking on Fox News late Thursday, Palin said the joke was on Chaney.

“Well, check this out, buddy — you’re fired!” Palin said.

All 11 of the Secret Service employees have had their top-secret security clearances lifted.

The agency’s investigation has included interviews of agents and hotel staff. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said this week that investigators in Colombia have not been able to interview the women.

The affair has also prompted a military investigation of the service members, including six members of the Army, two Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians, two Marine dog handlers and an Air Force airman.

An Air Force colonel and a military lawyer were also dispatched to Colombia this week. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, patronizing prostitutes is a crime for military personnel. It is referred to as “compelling, inducing, enticing or procuring a person to have sex in exchange for money; or receiving money for arranged sex.”

Officials from U.S. Southern Command, which organized the military role for the security operation, have not provided details of its probe beyond saying that at least some of the military members violated curfew and may have been involved in “inappropriate conduct.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney has said it is “preposterous to politicize” the issue, responding to criticism from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and Palin, who have said the allegations reflect poor management of the government under Obama.

Palin described the affair Thursday as a “symptom of government run amok.”

“It’s like, who’s minding the store around here?” Palin said.

Carney said Obama had not had any conversations with Secret Service Director Sullivan but wouldn’t rule out that they might speak soon.

Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan, Laurie Kellman, Robert Burns, Larry Margasak, and Julie Pace in Washington, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Frank Bajak in Cartagena, Colombia, contributed to this report.

Follow Alicia a. Caldwell on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/acaldwellap

3 more Secret Service agents lose jobs in prostitution scandal

Plus El Reg’s comment ‘sin bin’ and what iPhone, Android and BlackBerry switchers thought of Windows Phone

A quick burst of 7 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Use Kinect to teach anatomy? It’s a ‘Mirracle’! >> CNET Health Tech

“Kinect hacks have been used for many a grand feat, from a tool that helps the blind navigate more easily to hands-free questing in World of Warcraft and virtual cat brushing. The Mirracle system projects a CT image onto the user’s reflection to give the illusion of seeing inside one’s own body. so why not integrate the powers of Microsoft Kinect with a mirror to teach such subjects as basic anatomy?

maybe they could make it into a revision game for the Xbox 360?

Google to give closed-door briefing on user policy changes >> USA Today

To the US Congress. and Larry Page, the chief executive, can’t make it. we await his first public appearance in front of Congress, or a similar public forum. and – behind closed doors? For the public privacy policy?

The Register Comments Guidelines, 2012 >> The Register

We never knew that El Reg had a moderation team. The policy there looks pretty much exactly like the one here, except that new commenters get put in a “might sin” bin before being allowed to play with the big kids.

Why Android will gain HUGE tablet marketshare later this year >> Scobleizer

No, not 2012. this is from June 2011:

I finally had someone explain to me why Android will gain huge marketshare this year in the large-screen tablet wars (aka where iPad is dominant). It took USA’s #1 TV manufacturer, Vizio, to do it. Why didn’t Google have them on stage to show this off a few weeks back at Google IO?

Vizio didn’t figure in Android tablet sales for 2011 in any research we have seen.

The World’s first computer password? It was useless too >> Wired.com

This may not come as a surprise. but it goes back a long way.

Windows Phone switchers try a week away from iOS, Android and BlackBerry >> Laptop Mag

Three people who usually use those bigger (in terms of sales) platforms try a week on Windows Phones devices. as it’s the US, none is a Nokia one. The common response from the iOS and Android user: the apps don’t match up. The BlackBerry user seemed impressed, though.

First look: Final cut Pro X 10.0.3 restores professional features; adds notable new ones >> Macworld

The latest update adds functionality:

Videographers were promised from the introduction of FCP X that in the near future we would once again be able to edit a multi-camera project, and Apple has delivered. With up to 64 active camera angles available, FCP X may actually shake the industry to its core with that level of multicam facility in the basic editing package. this means that you can actively edit more cameras than I have ever heard of being used for any multicam project, with the possible exception of the Super Bowl or, perhaps the bullet-time for The Matrix.

however, what’s completely mystifying is why Apple released a not-good-enough initial version in June 2011, rather than waiting until it had everything it needed. It has lost clients – will this really get them back? (Thanks @rquick for the link.)

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Josh HallidayCharles Arthurguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. all rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Boot up: Google to brief US congress on privacy policy, Kinect to teach anatomy, and more