9/30/14, "The Collapse of the Secret Service," NY Times Editorial Board. "Julia Pierson's Secret Service and the White House Breach." (10/1 print ed.)
"When
Omar Gonzalez vaulted the White House fence, pushed past a Secret
Service guard and carried a knife all the way to the ceremonial East
Room on Sept. 19, he did more than threaten the life of the first family
and some of the nation’s highest officials. He shattered the idea that
the White House is a sacred civic space, protected by the world’s most
impenetrable security force.
In
this and other shocking incidents in recent years, the Secret Service
has revealed itself to be as bungling and dysfunctional as many other
once-revered Washington institutions. It not only failed in its most
fundamental task of protecting the White House premises, but it has
failed to properly investigate threats after they occurred, and has not
been forthcoming with the public about those lapses. The agency
initially said Mr. Gonzalez was subdued at the White House door, only
admitting the truth about the extent of his intrusion after it was uncovered on Monday by Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post.
“I
wish to God you protected the White House like you’re protecting your
reputation here today,” Representative Stephen Lynch, a Democrat of
Massachusetts, told the Secret Service director, Julia Pierson, at a
hearing Tuesday morning.
Ms. Pierson was unimpressive in her testimony at the hearing
on security breaches, delivering passive, pro forma answers and failing
to persuade questioners of either party that she has either the
strategy or the will to right an essential but troubled agency. “Our
security plan was not properly executed” in the Gonzalez incident, she
said, in the bland bureaucratic understatement of the year.
She even
used the cliché that it was “obvious that mistakes were made,” but never
really explained how they could have been made, or precisely what
actions she planned to take beyond the required investigation and policy
review. Only when asked if she was outraged did she say she was.
There
are good reasons for that outrage. Mr. Gonzalez should have been
stopped the instant his feet landed on the White House lawn, as 16 other
fence-jumpers were over the last five years. But a plainclothes
surveillance team with that specific task did not notice him, The Post
reported. The attack dog that was supposed to be released was not. The
front door of the White House was left unlocked. An alarm box at the
entrance was muted because it was annoying members of the usher’s staff
who work nearby. And the agent who eventually tackled Mr. Gonzalez —
after the intruder ran past the staircase leading to the Obamas’ living
quarters — was off-duty and just happened to be walking past that spot
as he was leaving work. (The first family was not in the building at the
time.)
That detail, revealed by The Post Tuesday afternoon, was not mentioned by Ms. Pierson at the hearing.
In
2011, there was an equally frightening incident, never fully revealed
at the time. A man named Oscar Ortega-Hernandez parked his car about 700
yards from the White House and fired a semiautomatic weapon into the
upstairs residence area. (One of the Obamas’ daughters was home.)
Some
Secret Service officers thought there might have been an attack, but
their supervisor decided it was just backfire from a vehicle and ordered
them to stand down. As The Post reported on Sunday,
it took four days for the Secret Service to finally understand that
there was an armed attack, and only after a housekeeper discovered
broken glass and chipped cement. The public and Congress were never
properly informed.
The
president and first lady, Michelle Obama, were reportedly furious when
they were told of the incident several days later, and so should the
American people be now. As several lawmakers noted at the hearing, the
damage could have been unimaginably bad if the attackers had been
organized terrorists rather than deranged individuals. And considering
that President Obama has received three times the number of threats as
his predecessors, there should be greater security for this White House.
The budget and size of the Secret Service, though, has fallen in the last few years. In 2011, the agency had about 6,900 staff positions; it now has about 6,600. Its budget fell from $1.9 billion in 2012 to $1.8 billion in 2013, in part because of automatic cuts demanded by Congress, and it has gone up only slightly since then. Though money cannot be the only reason for these errors, people inside the agency say the cuts have led to staff burnout, low morale and unmonitored posts.
The budget and size of the Secret Service, though, has fallen in the last few years. In 2011, the agency had about 6,900 staff positions; it now has about 6,600. Its budget fell from $1.9 billion in 2012 to $1.8 billion in 2013, in part because of automatic cuts demanded by Congress, and it has gone up only slightly since then. Though money cannot be the only reason for these errors, people inside the agency say the cuts have led to staff burnout, low morale and unmonitored posts.
Mr.
Obama will now have to decide whether Ms. Pierson is up to the job of
protecting him and his family, as well as the nation’s reputation. But,
at a minimum, he has to insist on an independent, top-to-bottom review
of the Secret Service, not one conducted by officials trying to protect
themselves or their agency."
=====================
In Sept. 2014 the US Secret Service was farmed out to the UN to provide security for all 140 world leaders at the Gen. Assembly. The US taxpayer gives billions of no-strings dollars yearly to the UN to keep it afloat. They couldn't use a few dollars of that money for security? If the US Secret Service is schlepping for UN meetings in Manhattan and finding it overwhelming, recent events at the White House become even less surprising:
"“It’s frustrating,” Ms. Pierson said in a 15-minute interview from New York City, where she was directing the agency’s protection of 140 world leaders attending the United Nations General Assembly."
9/22/14, "White House Intruder’s Past Raises Concern," NY Times, Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt
"She added, “I don’t think the average American realizes the amount of work and complexity that goes into securing these events.”"...
=====================
In Sept. 2014 the US Secret Service was farmed out to the UN to provide security for all 140 world leaders at the Gen. Assembly. The US taxpayer gives billions of no-strings dollars yearly to the UN to keep it afloat. They couldn't use a few dollars of that money for security? If the US Secret Service is schlepping for UN meetings in Manhattan and finding it overwhelming, recent events at the White House become even less surprising:
"“It’s frustrating,” Ms. Pierson said in a 15-minute interview from New York City, where she was directing the agency’s protection of 140 world leaders attending the United Nations General Assembly."
9/22/14, "White House Intruder’s Past Raises Concern," NY Times, Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt
"She added, “I don’t think the average American realizes the amount of work and complexity that goes into securing these events.”"...
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