Secret Service Waited More Than A Year To Fix Former President Bush's Home ... - CBS Local

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — A report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General reveals that the Secret Service waited more than a year to fix a broken alarm system at the Houston home of former President George H. W. Bush.

CBS News reports that the home’s alarm was not working properly starting in September 2013 and was not fixed until December 2014. A replacement system was purchased by the Secret Service’s Technical Security Division in January 2014, but was not installed for another 11 months.

The report says that the Secret Service assigned an agent to a “roving post to secure the residence” while the system was down. No breaches happened during that time.

“George and Barbara Bush have total confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service,” Jim McGrath, a spokesman for the former president, told CBS News. “Their trust in them is as unshakeable as it is unbreakable.”

The report also states that there are concerns about security at other former presidents’ homes, according to CBS News. One Secret Service agent said the security equipment at one former president’s home shows “signs of impending failure.” The presidents’ names were blacked out.

The report, prepared by Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth, recommends the agency “review security equipment” and “evaluate the process for tracking maintenance requests” at the former presidents’ residences, CBS News reports.

Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy agreed with the recommendations and an assessment of the residences was completed in January.

“With these fixes in place, we believe the Secret Service will more effectively meet its mission to protect the lives and homes of our former presidents,” Roth told CBS News in a statement.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was stunned by the report.

“I’m glad they know about it now, but for more than a year we had a former president of the United States whose basic alarm system wasn’t working. Are you kidding me? That’s unbelievable,” he told CBS News.

He continued, “They’ve got to get their act together and get it together fast.”

This is the latest black eye for the Secret Service. Earlier this year, a man was able to make it inside the White House after jumping the fence before eventually being apprehended. Shots have also been fired at the White House and the home of Vice President Joe Biden.

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