The badge, gun, radio, handcuffs and flash drive belonging to a Secret Service agent were stolen near the Secret Service's headquarters in Washington, according to multiple reports.
The incident, which took place Monday, will do little to restore faith in the Secret Service, which has come under fire for a number of humiliating security lapses over the last few years.
According to CNN which first reported the theft, the items were stolen from an agent's personal vehicle on Monday while it was parked near the agency's headquarters. A Metropolitan Police Department report filed after the incident and reviewed by CNN said that the stolen items were "a black Sig Sauer handgun, an APX6000 radio, handcuffs, a USB flash drive, a black Patagonia bag and a Secret Service badge, number 1266."
Secret Service agent's gun, badge, handcuffs and radio stolen from his personal car parked near agency headquarters. Details to come.— Peter Hermann (@phscoop) December 22, 2015
The agent is not named but CNN, citing a source, reports that the agent is a member of the Presidential Protective Division, the unit with primary responsibility for protecting the life of the president.
The latest security flap comes weeks after a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report arguing that the agency was riddled with security breaches and a staffing crisis that "poses perhaps the greatest threat" to its mission.
"Morale is down, attrition is up, misconduct continues and security breaches persist," House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, whose committee has been investigating the agency since 2012, said as the report was released. "Strong leadership from the top is required to fix the systemic mismanagement within the agency and to restore it to its former prestige."
The agency has been under the microscope after a number of high-profile incidents over the past few years, including the Colombia prostitution scandal, and a number of security breaches involving President Barack Obama and the White House.