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Dan Ertel, owner of "Lips" strip club, talks to the press outside a hotel in San Salvador, El Salvador, Friday, April 27, 2012. The Secret Service acknowledged Thursday it is investigating whether its employees hired strippers and prostitutes in advance of President Barack Obama's visit last year to El Salvador. Ertel said he didn't know whether any Secret Service employees were among his customers.
WASHINGTON—A veteran Republican lawmaker says it's time for an inspector general's investigation to find how widespread the problems at the Secret Service are.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says the nation needs to know whether reports of sexual misbehavior by agents traveling in advance of the president reflect part of the culture of the Secret Service. He says national security and the president's safety could be at risk.

Grassley told CBS' "This Morning" that the Homeland Security Department's inspector general can handle the investigation—so long as that office can maintain its independence from the department and the White House.

Grassley said Friday that officials must be held accountable. As he put it, "You know nothing's changed in Washington if heads don't roll."