One of the most important jobs in the works is that of a Secret Service Agent in the Presidential Detail. Our National Security depends on the President’s safety. I therefor consider it horrendous that mentally challenged individual was able to hop the White House fence, stroll across the lawn, and walk into the White House. Lets start with the basics.
Secret Service officers stopped Omar Jose Gonzalez last month as he carried a hatchet in front of the White House, but let him go even though he had been arrested this summer in Virginia with a mini-arsenal of semiautomatic weapons, a sniper rifle and a map clearly marking the White House’s location.
Prosecutors on Monday also said Mr. Gonzalez, 42, an Iraq war veteran who on Friday scaled an iron fence and made his way through the front door of the White House before he was apprehended, had 800 rounds of ammunition, two hatchets and a machete in his car when law enforcement officers searched it after Friday’s incident.
A judge on Monday agreed to a request by the prosecutors that Mr. Gonzalez, who is from Copperas Cove, Tex., and believed to have been living out of his car, remain in custody until a hearing next month because he posed a danger to President Obama.
The disclosures raised further questions about whether the Secret Service, which has the responsibility for protecting the president, could have prevented the breach into the White House, one of the most secure facilities in the country… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
More than one Republican has called this incompetence on Obama’s part. That notion is absurd, but there have clearly ben a few blunders. First, after apprehending Gonzales the first time, he should have been held for evaluation. At all times every part of the White House grounds should be under direct observation. Every doorway into the White House should be locked and guarded. Part of the reason these things were not done is negligence, and the parties responsible for that negligence should be reassigned to Sitka or Kiska. However, part is also funding.
Because of Republican cuts to Secret Service budget, they have a severe staffing shortage. People are being used on the Presidential Detail who are not normally part of it. Although expenses are up, Republicans cut their funding by $5 million, with even bigger cuts about to take place because of sequestration.
Perhaps the shortfall should be made up by further cutting the Congressional security detail
10 Responses to “Secret Screw-up”
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While I really wouldn't call what he did a "stroll". I don't understand why they didn't release the dogs – that's the exact kind of situation that they're there for!
Nameless is right – use dogs to apprehend (only put protective waistcoats on them first!). I am horrified to hear of this – it only takes a couple of dim-witted mistakes like this to coincide and I dread to think of the consequences – argh!
I'm repeating myself a little – but gazillions of Amurrikans want to kill the Pesident for the heinous crime of being President while black. Therefore, naturally, white elderly male Republicans have drastically cut Secret Service funding. The President is not stupid. He knows this. He has also expressed a level of confidence in the Secret Service much higher than any being expressed here, including mine. I do kind of think his opinion is valuable on this topic.
That said, am I the only one who sees the funny side of this? 800 rounds of ammunition, two hatchets, and a machete? Did he think he had come up with a way to use ammunition without any projecting mechanism? If so, "mentally challenged" is throwing roses at it. (Yes, I know he had semiautomatic weapons earlier in the summer, but not in the car with the ammo at this time.) I'm positive there are competent assissins out there, but this guy is not one of them.
Certainly if the President were to be assisinated, Republicans would blame that on him. They wouldn't even need to "find a way." They just would. I suspect all here are more concerned to prevent it from happening than in laying blame.
Assigning the parties responsible for these blunders to Kiska would be fitting – it's an uninhabited island at the far end of the Aleutian chain with truly foul weather – a perfect place for Republicans. Sitka, however, is a rather nice city in SE Alaska.
1 – I blame Congress for slashing Security funding for the President's detail. let them go without first.
2 – I feel bad for the "trespasser". He is a war Vet suffering from PTSD and not getting needed help.
3 – The Secret Service is responsible for not holding him and referring him for the psychiatric help he so badly needs and deserves as a Vet. They had more than one chance to do so.
You can bet your boots that funding would not have been cut had there been a white TeapublicanT in the White House.
This situation is stupid. Why in the world would they let him get as far as he did! If the guy had been black, they would have shot him dead in his tracks!
It’s absurd that Congress would cut funding for the protection of our Commander-in-Chief!! More than once, we have seen what can happen once a determined person gets that close to the President!!
They cut funding for the Secret Service at the White House, but not their own? Hmmm. Carrie posted an article today about how Congress gets to skip the NSA when boarding a plane. How nice it must be to protect yourself while everyone else is in danger or being humiliated.
Slashing security funding . . . doesn't that sound the same as in the case of Benghazi?! I swear that Republicanus/Teabaggers slah funding and hope that something untoward happens. When it does, they hold endless useless hearings. It should be the Republicanus/Teabaggers that are slashed!
Get the fellow the help he so richly deserves and needs.
"Perhaps the shortfall should be made up by further cutting the Congressional security detail." — Amen! . . . and how about recovering the wasted money on the failed repeals of Obamacare, DOMA, etc from the Republicanus/Teabaggers who wasted all that taxpayer money on partisan posturing!
Thanks all. This is just a pit stop, because I'm in the motel in Salem and have a very full day tomorrow.
I'm really surprised that our first black president hasn't been hurt, or killed. Most other presidents have had closer calls than this. I'll bet when the SS heard they had a black president, they beefed up security.