fbpx
10.02.2014 0

White House security under fire, Secret Service head forced out

swiss_cheeseBy Rick Manning

If there is any part of government that America assumed, indeed prayed, works it is the Secret Service.  These very special men and women whose sworn duty is to protect the President and Vice President of the United States have had a very bad couple of weeks.

The Agency came under fire initially over the strange saga of the White House intruder, but then things went from bad to worse.

The intruder case is strange enough as we now know that last week’s knife wielding intruder not only breached the WH fence, ran across 100 yards of lawn, and entered the White House without apprehension, but also, overpowered the unprepared female guard at the door, and ran around through various rooms of the White House before being subdued by an off-duty officer.  This makes this immediate react commentary written last week all the more relevant.

Hard to believe that the Secret Service, which shuts down half of D.C. any time the President moves anywhere from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue disabled their own internal alarm system so the guard inside the White House door did not know to arm it.  Why would you disable the system?  Apparently it bothered the White House Usher’s office, purportedly because it was constantly going off in false alarms.

If true, why wasn’t it fixed?

Why did anyone put the minor annoyance of the White House Usher’s office ahead of the safety of the President?

It is also being reported that the Secret Service did not release dogs on the intruder as protocol would dictate, because of concerns about the animals attacking other officers rather than the intruder.  Not to be too direct, but if you cannot release the dogs because they might take down a Secret Service officer, then perhaps you shouldn’t depend upon dogs as part of your security system.  It makes one wonder what scenario was envisaged that officers would not be in hot pursuit of a suspect racing toward the Executive Mansion?

This whole episode makes one thing perfectly clear, the Secret Service needs to completely reevaluate the WH security system.

If you aren’t going to use guns to defeat an intruder, put more officers in place.  If it becomes clear that attack dogs are not a viable option, then you better have another option at your disposal.  And, most obviously, if you aren’t going to use the alarm system to tell the door guard to lock the door, perhaps you should just keep the door locked 24/7, and route tourists out another exit.

If this tale of incompetence isn’t enough, the Agency has been rocked by allegations that an armed, former criminal was allowed to ride in an elevator with the President.  How is this even possible?

And as those who follow Representative Trey Gowdy’s career  over YouTube know that the  Agency also somehow failed to report and investigate seven shots that were fired at, and hit the White House.

I am no security expert, but given the dangerous clown show that we have been witnessing, it makes one wonder if a general laxity has spread over the entire Amdinistration’s security apparatus.  For the sake of our nation, let’s hope that the seeming systemic failure to protect the President on a number of fronts, isn’t a horrific precursor of things to come.

Rick Manning is the vice president of public policy and communications for Americans for Limited Government.

Copyright © 2008-2024 Americans for Limited Government