The director of the U.S. Secret Service faced bipartisan congressional outrage and calls for an independent investigation into multiple security lapses by the agency in charge of presidential protection.
The promise of a thorough internal inquiry from agency Director Julia Pierson wasn’t enough for lawmakers who held a hearing yesterday after revelations that a man who jumped the White House fence earlier this month managed to get deep into the executive mansion before being captured.
That incident was the latest in a series of embarrassing mistakes by the Secret Service stretching back to 2009. Agency officials yesterday confirmed another lapse occurred on Sept. 16 when they permitted an armed security guard with a criminal record to get on an elevator with President Barack Obama.
“An internal investigation by the Secret Service is not sufficient,” said Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.
Following an afternoon closed-door briefing by Pierson with lawmakers, Representative Elijah Cummings, the committee’s top Democrat, said he and Issa were sending a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urging the creation of an outside panel to review the Secret Service’s personnel, tactics and culture. “From top to bottom,” Cummings said.
Peter Boogard, a spokesman for Johnson, declined to comment because his department hadn’t received the request.
Fence Jumper
The hearing revealed few new details about the Sept. 19 incident in which 42-year-old Army veteran Omar Gonzalez vaulted over the White House fence, outran officers to the front door and slipped inside.
The Secret Service initially left the impression that Gonzalez was captured just inside the front door, saying in a news release that Gonzalez was “apprehended after entering the White House North Portico doors.”
Pierson confirmed at the hearing that Gonzalez actually made it deep into the White House -- after slipping through the unlocked doors, Gonzalez crossed two large halls and ran into the East Room. He was finally apprehended near the Green Room, a parlor at the southeast corner of the building, she said.
Obama and his family had already left the White House for a weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat.
Court documents said Gonzalez was carrying a folding knife in his pocket. He was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday in Washington. He is charged with a federal offense of illegal entry to a restricted area while carrying dangerous weapon and on local charges of carrying a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of ammunition, found in his vehicle after a search.
Security Protocols
Pierson accepted responsibility for the foul-up and said it was being vigorously investigated, though she has already determined that officers and agents “did not properly execute security protocols.”
In her testimony, she said that the Secret Service “has had its share of challenges in recent years,” adding that she recognized that “these events did not occur in a vacuum.”
The extent of the breach was first reported by the Washington Post, which also said that the Secret Service failed to initially identify and investigate another serious security incident in 2011 in which a man fired shots from a rifle at the White House, hitting the building at least seven times. It wasn’t until four days later that the Secret Service realized shots had hit the White House after a housekeeper noticed broken glass and a chunk of cement on the floor.
Gate Crashers
Lawmakers also cited a 2009 case in which two gate crashers managed to get into a White House state dinner, and the departure from the service of nine agents after allegations of involvement with prostitutes in Colombia while preparing security for a visit by Obama.
In another incident that hadn’t been previously disclosed, an armed security contractor at a hotel in Atlanta was permitted to get on an elevator with the president on Sept. 16. Agents later discovered he had criminal convictions on his record, two Secret Service officials.
The officials, who asked for anonymity to discuss the security breach, said the agency does not generally allow people with criminal records to get close to the president.
In this case, agents only checked the man’s background after he began snapping photos or taking videos of Obama. His most recent conviction was in the mid-1990s and he often escorted VIPs during functions at the hotel, the officials said.
The incident was reported earlier by the Washington Examiner and the Washington Post.
Questioning Leadership
Pierson yesterday came under criticism from lawmakers of both parties. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said he has “serious concerns with the current leadership” of the Service. After the closed-door briefing, he said he was “right on the precipice” of asking for Pierson’s resignation.
Issa, Cummings and other lawmakers said they would reserve judgment until they learn more about how Pierson plans to address the failings.
“All these problems are fixable,” Issa said after yesterday’s hearing.
Over the last five years, 16 people have scaled the iron fence surrounding the White House grounds, six of them this year, Pierson said at the hearing.
Budget Cuts
She said that reductions to the agency’s budget resulted in staff cuts, leaving the agency 550 people “below optimal level.” The Secret Service has a budget of more than $1.7 billion and employs about 7,000 people, according to its website.
Chaffetz criticized an agency statement after the incident that lauded the restraint used by officers.
“Tremendous restraint is not what we’re looking for,” Chaffetz said. “We want to see overwhelming force.”
Pierson said Secret Service agents are authorized to use lethal force against intruders.
“All decisions made that evening are being evaluated, including decisions on tactics and use of force, in light of the totality of the circumstances confronting those officers,” she said.
Former Secret Service Director W. Ralph Basham told the committee that while the actions by the agents “must thoroughly be examined” and improvements made, the incident must be kept in perspective.
“We could easily be sitting here today discussing why an Iraq war veteran, possibly suffering through the awful curse of post-traumatic stress disorder, was shot dead on the North Lawn, rather than being tackled at the front door,” he said.
Pierson was appointed head of the Secret Service in March 2013, taking over an agency that had been tarnished by a scandal involving the Colombian prostitutes.
A year after she was sworn in, three agents were returned to the U.S. from Amsterdam on the eve of a presidential visit after one was found passed out in front of his hotel room following a night of drinking.
To contact the reporter on this story: Del Quentin Wilber in Washington at dwilber@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@bloomberg.net Joe Sobczyk, Justin Blum
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