Report faults training, communication errors for White House breach
Due to a host of "performance, organizational, and technical" failures, an intruder was able to scale the White House fence in September and make his way inside the executive mansion before he was taken down by Secret Service agents, according to a report on the incident by the Department of Homeland Security that was made public on Thursday.
The review faulted the agency for insufficient training of the officers on duty, noting that "staffing shortfalls" have left the Secret Service unable to provide regular training for its uniformed division officers. It also noted that the training they did receive did not prepare them for "non-lethal force scenarios" like the one that unfolded on September 19.
The report noted that members of the agency's Emergency Response Team did not immediately enter the White House through the North Portico doors after the intruder had breached the interior because they were never familiarized with the layout of the White House. By the time they entered, the intruder, Omar Gonzalez, had already been subdued.
The review also blamed communication failures for the intrusion, noting that several radio and alarm systems designed to notify agents of a breach did not function properly. Perhaps most astounding, the report said that one canine officer who could have conceivably halted Gonzalez' mad dash was taking a personal call on his cell phone and did not have his radio earpiece in his ear when Gonzalez hopped the White House fence.
Another officer who did see Gonzalez approach the White House mistakenly believed the door to the building would be locked and that Gonzalez would be cornered between the door and the approaching agents.
"By the time he realized the doors were not locked, Gonzalez was inside the White House," the report said.
The incident, coupled with several previous security lapses by the Secret Service, generated an outcry that forced the ouster of then-Secret Service Director Julia Pierson. President Obama named Joseph Clancy, who'd retired as head of the president's protective division in 2011, as the acting director of the agency while he seeks a more permanent replacement.
The report released Thursday is part of a broader review of the Secret Service being conducted by Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to diagnose and correct problems at the troubled agency.
According to a DHS spokesman, Mayorkas completed his review on Oct. 31 and submitted a copy to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and to Clancy so the acting director "could immediately begin to take any additional security measures that the findings warranted in order to better ensure the White House complex is secure."
"Acting Director Clancy has already begun to take such measures," the spokesman added.
Mayorkas, according to DHS, began briefing lawmakers on the report's findings on Thursday. In reaction to the report, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, blasted the "critical and major failures in communications, confusion about operational protocols, and gaps in staffing and training" that contributed to the incident in September.
"While some of these problems can be attributed to a lack of resources, others are systemic and indicative of Secret Service culture," he added. "Some of these problems have begun to be addressed, however it is imperative that DHS follow through on these findings and institute real reforms."
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, was less measured in his criticism, slamming the Secret Service for a "comedy of errors" that led to the security lapse.
"This report makes clear that everything that could have gone wrong that evening did," Goodlatte said in a statement. "Inadequate training, poor communication, and lax physical security at the White House led to this breach."
Goodlatte's committee, which holds primary jurisdiction over the Secret Service, is scheduled to hold a hearing on the security breach