The Secret Service continued to be rocked Thursday by allegations of its agents' transgressions, though one U.S. government official cautioned against assuming there are systemic problems or that they are not properly investigated.

The new claims include an account stemming from El Salvador described by CNN affiliate Seattle TV station KIRO as very similar to the Colombia prostitution scandal purportedly involving members of the Secret Service and other government agencies.

The U.S. government official acknowledged there had been missteps among Secret Service members, while adding that such problems are to be expected given the agency's 147-year history.

Amid calls by some Republicans for a broader congressional-led investigation, the official was also quick to defend the government's internal review process and the role of the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility in dealing with that agency.

"We have had employees that have engaged in misconduct," the official said. "People make mistakes."

Reports of other incidents involving members of the agency, which is charged with protecting the president and other top officials, as well as investigating criminal activity, have been brought to Congress, a congressional source said Thursday.

That includes the incident in El Salvador, which the congressional source said the Secret Service has told Congress it is looking into as well.

The KIRO report cited an unnamed U.S. government contractor who worked extensively with the Secret Service advance team in San Salvador before President Barack Obama's trip there in March 2011.

The source said he was with about a dozen Secret Service agents and a few U.S. military specialists at a strip club in the city a few days before Obama arrived.

The men drank heavily at the club, and most of them paid extra for access to a VIP section where they were provided sexual favors in return for cash, the source told the station.