The US Secret Service was licking its wounds yesterday after a series of embarrassments raised questions about the security it provides to the President’s family.

During a fortnight’s holiday in Argentina, thieves stole a purse and a mobile phone from Mr Bush’s daughter at a restaurant in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, under the less-than-watchful gaze of her bodyguards.

Barbara Bush was visiting Argentina with her twin sister, Jenna. Their trip has left the Secret Service, which regards itself as the world’s most elite protection team, nursing more than just injured pride.

One agent, who was part of the Bush twins’ advance detail, had earlier been beaten up badly after getting mugged when he went out for a night on his own in the city. Details of these incidents emerged on what is a black date for the Secret Service: the anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas 43 years ago.

A local newspaper in the Argentine capital reported that a pair of thieves removed the purse from under a table despite Ms Bush’s apparently oblivious bodyguards sitting nearby. Buenos Aires police later confirmed that an incident had taken place, but said that no formal complaint had been filed with them.

Some sources suggested that Ms Bush had not been in “the immediate proximity” of her bag when it was snatched and that “at no point was there any risk of harm”. But Jack Cloonan, a former FBI investigator, said: “I think it is a big deal, frankly. Anytime the President’s daughter has something stolen or somebody gets close to the President’s daughter, [it] raises the whole issue of protecting the President and the first family.”

Mr Bush has had his own security problems this week after an extraordinarily accident-prone journey across Asia and the Pacific. First, the tyres came off when the brakes on Air Force One malfunctioned as it landed in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

No one was hurt, but later, Gregg Pitts, the acting director of the White House Travel Office, was robbed and beaten in Waikiki, Hawaii, on Tuesday morning outside a nightclub. Then, as the President left Hawaii, three police motorcycle outriders in his convoy slipped and crashed, leaving two of them seriously injured.

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