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The US Secret Service has got into hot water over Twitter less than two weeks after launching an account to provide 'an informative, helpful tool to businesses and individuals'.

An employee tasked with keeping watch on Fox News' coverage tweeted: 'Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can't. Deal. With. The. Blathering'. The offending tweet was almost immediately removed but not before it was retweeted (and screen grabbed) by many of the law enforcement agency's 23,000 plus followers on Twitter.

The Secret Service issued an apology, stating that the offending employee mistakenly believed they were using their own personal Twitter account.

Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, described the tweet as 'unapproved and inappropriate', adding: 'This tweet did not reflect the views of the US Secret Service and it was immediately removed.' The employee in question no longer has access to the official Twitter account.

It is believed that the tweet referred to a story run by Fox News about Vito LaPinto, the 13 year old schoolboy who was interrogated by Secret Service agents without his parents' permission after he posted a message about Osama Bin Laden on Facebook. Donovan was careful to highlight that Fox News was not being singled out, adding: 'We monitor all the different news organisations throughout the day.'

The Secret Service is now tightening up all policies and procedures relating to its Twitter account. 

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