The U.S. Secret Service announced Friday it is rewriting its rules on agents’ behavior, both on and off duty.

The crackdown came just a day after KIRO 7 Investigators revealed a new scandal at the agency that involved parties and prostitutes in El Salvador in 2011, just days before a presidential visit. Investigative reporter Chris Halsne traveled to San Salvador where he gathered witness accounts of agents getting drunk and paying cash for sexual favors.

On Friday afternoon, the director of the Secret Service said agents would now be prohibited from hanging out at strip clubs.

Homeland security expert James Carafano watched Halsne’s original reports in disbelief, he said. Those reports centered on Secret Service agents hanging out at an El Salvador strip club called Lips in the days just prior to President Barack Obama’s arrival in San Salvador last year, according to a source.

Witnesses with intimate knowledge of the situation told Halsne “vanloads” of U.S. Secret Service agents spent several nights in the front row at Lips. Some of the men reportedly drank heavily, paid for sexual favors from the performers and then procured escorts to go back to their hotels with them.

Carfano said the agents fell for the oldest and most dangerous trick in the book.

“Sex is a key espionage tool,” he said. “The Chinese use it. The Soviets use it. The Russians used it. Even more than money, sex is the number one tool that is used to get to the people and get them to do things.”

Congressional investigators saw Halsne’s reports, too, and immediately launched a series of official inquiries. In response, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan on Friday announced “enhanced standards of conduct,” which include:

No foreign nationals in hotel rooms.

No visiting places of “bad acts.”

No drinking 10 hours before a shift.

Plus, someone from the Office of Professional Development at the Secret Service will now always accompany agents on out-of-town trips.

Carafano said those were all great ideas, and all past due.

“We know that people use these kinds of venues and these kinds of activities to identify U.S. personnel, whether they are military or intelligence, and go after them, so it’s almost like wearing a T-shirt that says ‘I’m with the CIA, come ask me questions,’” he said.

Sullivan also announced Friday that he is going to send all Secret Service personnel through ethics training courses in the next several months.

Here is the full text of the message sent by the Secret Service:

Each point of the Secret Service star represents one of the agency's five core values: justice, duty, courage, honesty and loyalty. These values should resonate with each man and woman in our organization.  The building block - the very foundation - of these values is our personal and professional code of conduct.   

To that end, you are expected to always conduct yourselves in a manner that reflects credit on you, the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and - most importantly - the United States Government and the citizens that we serve.

Employee responsibilities and conduct are outlined in PER-05, and social media standards of conduct are outlined in PAF-08(02).  You certify that you are aware of these policies each year at the mid-year review by signing the SSF 3218, which is placed in your Employee Performance File.

Although "Employee Responsibilities and Conduct" and "Social Media Standards of Conduct" are thorough and comprehensive, they cannot address every situation that our employees will face as we execute our dual-missions throughout the world.  The absence of a specific, published standard of conduct covering an act or behavior does not mean that the act is condoned, is permissible, or will not call for - and result in - corrective or disciplinary action. 

The inherent respect conferred upon you as a Secret Service employee carries with it the responsibility - in both your personal and professional life - to always conduct yourself in a manner that reflects the highest standards of the United States Government.  Although managers have an explicit role to prevent and address issues of misconduct, all employees have a continuing obligation to confront expected abuses or perceived misconduct.  In short, consider your conduct through the lens of the past several weeks.

In the days ahead, I remind all employees that it is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the referenced policy sections pertaining to conduct. 

At the request of the Director, the senior leadership has developed and require the following enhanced standards of conduct effective immediately.

1. Standards of conduct briefings will be conducted for all protective visits, events and NSSEs, as well as prior to foreign car plane departures.

2. The U.S. Department of State Regional Security Officer will work with the USSS advance team to provide intensified country-specific briefings upon arrival in a foreign country.  The briefings will update personnel on safety issues, off-limit zones and off-limit establishments for USSS personnel, and any country-specific rules imposed by the Ambassador.

3. Foreign nationals, excluding hotel staff and official law enforcement counterparts, are prohibited in your hotel room.

4. Patronization of non-reputable establishments is prohibited.

5. Alcohol may only be consumed in moderate amounts while off-duty on a TDY assignment and alcohol use is prohibitedwithin 10 hours of reporting for duty.

6. Alcohol may not be consumed at the protectee hotel once the protective visit has begun.

The following measures relating to foreign car plane staffing are effective immediately.

1. Car planes will be staffed with two GS-15 supervisors - one from the Office of Professional Responsibility and one from the field.

2. The car plane supervisors will be responsible for briefing the standards of conduct expectations prior to departure to the destination country, as well as for enforcing these standards while in the foreign country.

3. All personnel traveling will have to have completed relevant LMS-based ethics training in order to be eligible for protective travel.

4. The Security Clearance Division will intensify country-specific briefings covering all pertinent topics prior to departure for the destination country.

5. Laws of the United States shall apply to Secret Service personnel while abroad.