View Full Version : White House Security Breach
Didn't see this posted. I'd expect the place is covered by electronics and eyes and unlikely he was not being observed, but one hell of a security fail if he was not. But, very little time for them react unless they just put a bullet in him the second he jumped the fence, which wouldn't play well on 8 zillion news and YT pages when all the tourists filmed it. Considering the intruders background, he didn't seem intent on doing serious damage as capable, or, simply so far gone mentally, simply unable to do it. Seems more a cry for help, than intent to do damage. Either way, I'm glad it ended without this vet being harmed and any SS agents etc, injured. Does not help the image of the White House, via SS, as a place it's difficult to reach if you wanna just jump the fence and make a run for it. This gent has had repeated interactions with law enforcement leading up to this event it appears.
Secret Service reviews White House security after fence-jumper enters mansion
The Secret Service on Saturday launched a security review to learn how a man carrying a knife was able to get inside the front door of the White House on Friday night after jumping a fence and sprinting more than 70 yards across the North Lawn — the first time that has ever happened.
Within seconds, the man who his public defender said served three tours in Iraq — and relatives said served as a sniper — got to the front double doors of the North Portico, turned the brass knob and stepped inside the vestibule. There he was grabbed and subdued by an officer standing post inside the door. He had a folding knife with a 2 1 / 2-inch serrated blade.
The success Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, had in breaching White House security Friday night — roughly 10 minutes after the president and his daughters lifted off the south grounds in his helicopter for Camp David — exposed new, worrisome gaps in the Secret Service’s extensive efforts to keep the first family safe and make the White House a “hard target.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/secret-service-reviews-white-house-security-after-fence-jumper-enters-mansion/2014/09/20/23df4f6a-40e0-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html
Here he is making a dash for the White House:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zWcHPxTxg
TriviaMonster
09-23-14, 08:27
They just wanted to make Obama seem more approachable.
Now imagine this had happened with a guy who had a chest full of explosives.....this is just nuts.
Now imagine this had happened with a buy who had a chest full of explosives.....this is just nuts.
thats what I was thinking? I remember visiting there when I was a kid, there were agents freaking everywhere. I even remember all the dogs that you could see out there. I can't imagine how someone could have gotten all the way from the gate to the door without someone stopping him.
I've been to the White House several times on business and before 9/11 if you knew somebody who worked there in a fairly high level position, getting in was not a problem and they could escort you just about anywhere in the White House itself. I knew one of the Assistants to the President, it was relatively easy to get in and we do go just about everywhere, even the little room off the Oval where Teddy Roosevelt's Nobel Price medal is displayed. The private quarters were off limits, along with the actual Oval Office itself.
The security was omnipresent, of course.
After 9/11 it was a whole new ball game, and apart from a strip search, we were thoroughly frisked, but .... how the heck did a guy: a) get over the fence without anyone noticing him climbing it [it is a big fence]; b) sprint across the lawn without anyone stopping him [release the dogs!]; c) get up that close to the house itself; d) get into the portico area; e) actually open the door and step inside.
They have security everywhere, huge black suburbans stuffed with armed agents, with miniguns deployable at a moment's notice, snipers on the roofs of the buildings. Uniformed Secret Service guards and "men in black" types are always everywhere.
Again, it totally blows my mind this happened.
Usually somebody gets over the fence and is tackled within about twenty feet of where he went over the gate.
Averageman
09-23-14, 09:07
Nice Sprint, it looks like he has been keeping up with his PT since he got out.
Cry for help; from what I understand he was concerned about the increase in atmospheric pressures and wanted to discuss it with Obama.
Now imagine this had happened with a guy who had a chest full of explosives.....this is just nuts.
Accuracy unknown, but from the article:
"The Secret Service trains its personnel not to shoot intruders on the grounds unless they appear armed, or are wearing bulky clothes or backpacks that could indicate they are carrying a bomb. Many questioned how officers can assess the real risk in the 20 seconds it takes someone to run from the fence to the mansion."
My guess, is he was under observation well before jumping that fence and wearing a T shirt (it appears in the vid to me at least) and clearly not armed nor wearing a back pack, etc, allowed to get that close due to decisions made not to have a guy torn up by dogs or burned down by bullets, etc. Conjecture on my part, but I suspect it was under more SS control than people fully appreciate or understand. POTUS was also not on the grounds, and I'd expect that too part of the decision making process.
Or, it was just a total break down in SS security and they were caught totally flat footed on this one.
I'm leaning toward the former scenario vs latter personally.
"I suspect it was under more SS control than people fully appreciate or understand. POTUS was also not on the grounds, and I'd expect that too part of the decision making process. "
That does actually make a lot of sense.
The only part then that would have me really puzzled at this point is why the front door was unlocked. I mean, wow.
It would have been appropriate to use a K9 to bite and hold this guy. Looks llike a major screw up by the SS
I've also read he had a map with the White House and the Masonic Temple in Alexandria circled, conspiracy theorist?
A returning VET with Ill wager soon to be divulged PTSD after some investigation. HMMMMMMMM.
I have always been under the impression that if you jumped the fence and started running around the White House someone was going to put a bullet in you....
My first thought was like many here... What if that was a suicide bomber?
Big mess up by the SS.
I've also read he had a map with the White House and the Masonic Temple in Alexandria circled, conspiracy theorist?
Where'd you read that? From a Masonic source?
Averageman
09-23-14, 12:21
Where'd you read that? From a Masonic source?
Actually it was on the news last night, the map had the Masonic Temple and the White House circled.
The guy has been arrested numerous time (3) on the East Coast. Once they had him in Va. with what sounded like an unregistered SBS and 10 other guns. They took the guns and he kept the ammo (800 rds caliber unknown) and continued his mission. Aparently the Va. State Police claim they notified the S.S. When they caught hin he had a couple of hatchets a machete in his car and the 3 inch folder in his pocket.
The guy just lives in C.C. about 20 minutes up the road, all his neighbors swear he is a great guy.
It's the atmosphere, the pressure,....really???
The man clearly has mental/emotional health issues.
The man clearly has mental/emotional health issues.
Maybe now he'll get the helps he needs.
Averageman
09-23-14, 14:01
Maybe now he'll get the helps he needs.
I'm surprised when Dad decided to load up a trunk full of guns and ammo to go see the POTUS, nobody thought to take him down to the VA for an evaluation.
When things like this happen, where is the family?
I'm surprised when Dad decided to load up a trunk full of guns and ammo to go see the POTUS, nobody thought to take him down to the VA for an evaluation.
When things like this happen, where is the family?
The same place they usually are, nonexistent. Which is a contributing factor in why these events happen the first place.
The first apart is still speculation at this point though.
I suppose if nothing else this means they'll hopefully start expediting the hiring process instead of letting applicants longer a slow death waiting. About dang time.. UD can be a tough gig all things considered and as I understand (atleast according to my local field office) their hiring back log is pretty extensive.
dwhitehorne
09-23-14, 14:59
I have always been under the impression that if you jumped the fence and started running around the White House someone was going to put a bullet in you....
My first thought was like many here... What if that was a suicide bomber?
Big mess up by the SS.
The same Graham vs Connor rules apply even at the White House. You miss the moving target and you are done. ALL shootings in DC go before the Grand Jury and the Al Sharpton/Marion Barry trained residents of DC get to decide your fate. That is what is going through your head when you are completely oblivious of the sights and you put your finger on the trigger while looking at the moving sillouette coming at you.
I would guess the majority of those barking dogs are bomb sniffers. The fine residents of Prince Georges County (DC suburb) put one of their police K9 Sergeants in jail for 10 years after biting an unarmed fleeing robbery suspect. So around here when you release the dog on a fleeing felon that gets a broken arm and you can't locate a weapon, you get 10 years. I assure you all K9 officers know that.
The Uniform Division is getting a bad rap. They are highly trained door stops that have to flip the switch and become skilled warriors in an instant while the entire worlds media is 100 feet away. There is probably at least one fence jumper a month if not more. The president leaves, shifts are adjusting back from 100 percent on deck to normal operations and someone gets to close to the house. That is why they have multiple layers of security. You can't always stop them at the outer perimeter. David
Moose-Knuckle
09-23-14, 15:16
Two breaches at the White House in in a 48 hour period and the two individuals lived to tell about it.
Yet not even a year ago Miriam Carey was shot dead by Capital Police and USSS two miles away from the White House, she had an infant son in the car when she was killed. I would really like to see the results of a DNA test showing who that kid’s biological father is . . .
Miriam Carey was an "unarmed" African-American woman shot in the nation's capital. I really have to wonder where Jesse, Al, and the gang were on that one. No speech by Barry and Holder didn't send is civil rights Stasi in to intimidate the officers invovled.
Not really that alarming or surprising.
First (no offense to the members here working the agency) I've noticed a trend in USSS ops and behavior. The teams I've worked with in the past for high profile details (POTUS, frmr POTUS, etc) have been bloated and tied down with administrative boot licking and red tape. Low turnover of legacy agents who are no longer fit for field work, equal opportunity nonsense (pregnant and fat girls), and a dicked up mentality. Instead of learning the concept of moving a P through an area or securing a box for him/them, it always seemed the USSS was much more interested in total authority. Why walk down the street with him in the diamond when you can just force the street to be shut down and evacuated. We were doing more fluid movement with our P alongside him with 6 dudes who knew what the fuvk they were doing, watching 100 suits lose their shit when the plan changed was telling. Much like firearms training, you can teach anyone to perform certain tasks and drills, you can't teach the mindset. As soon as you see something you haven't drilled or rehearsed a million times, chances are without an understanding of the root concept, you'll fall apart.
Also, with such broad sweeping total authority, it always gets abused. They're creating more conflict and chances for disaster by stopping and searching every vehicle in his projected route, people who had no idea when they got on the road he would cross their path. It's much easier to keep a low profile and do your job right. I can't speak on the Uniformed Division or the House guys, but I imagine they put the better guys in the field than the ones left to housesitting duties. Less than thrilled with their performance in general. If you take above average guys and throw a special mission, huge budget, and special treatment at them, you'll get less than average results. Like that group in the Army...;)
Remember what JFK said; "The only thing an assassin needs to be successful is the willingness to trade his life for the President's". Like gun free zones or nanny state gun laws, you aren't going to be able to stop a determined attacker from ANY purpose unless you're poised for direct interdiction. Maybe if CCW was allowed out on the street, someone would have stopped him halfway up the fence. But it was probably his PTSD that's the issue, not poor performance from those special guys.
The President is a joke, his security might as well be as incompetent.
I especially loved the part on the news where the chick who looks like a freaking bartender was making excuses that the SS was caught off guard because they were focused on the President departing elsewhere.
What kind of McDonalds excuse is that?!? I could put together a security detail of "gun store" commandos in their late 40s who are capable of watching both sides of a property at the same time. Pisses me off to think that people are actually being paid for that level of incompetence. But I'm sure they were all "hand picked" by Obama and his staff.
Not really that alarming or surprising.
Also, with such broad sweeping total authority, it always gets abused. They're creating more conflict and chances for disaster by stopping and searching every vehicle in his projected route, people who had no idea when they got on the road he would cross their path. It's much easier to keep a low profile and do your job right. I can't speak on the Uniformed Division or the House guys, but I imagine they put the better guys in the field than the ones left to housesitting duties. Less than thrilled with their performance in general. If you take above average guys and throw a special mission, huge budget, and special treatment at them, you'll get less than average results. Like that group in the Army...;)
Remember what JFK said; "The only thing an assassin needs to be successful is the willingness to trade his life for the President's". Like gun free zones or nanny state gun laws, you aren't going to be able to stop a determined attacker from ANY purpose unless you're poised for direct interdiction. Maybe if CCW was allowed out on the street, someone would have stopped him halfway up the fence. But it was probably his PTSD that's the issue, not poor performance from those special guys.
Case in point:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?t=7045033
thats what I was thinking? I remember visiting there when I was a kid, there were agents freaking everywhere. I even remember all the dogs that you could see out there. I can't imagine how someone could have gotten all the way from the gate to the door without someone stopping him.
Those darn republican budget cuts.... ;)
You know that's coming out of some reporter's mouth sooner or later.
Case in point:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?t=7045033
Wow. All that from a VW forum. The last place I'd expect to hear such treasonous talk... :laugh:
Moose-Knuckle
09-23-14, 19:41
OMG 800 rounds of ammunition in his truck! Run for the hills!!!
Some friends and I would burn through that in a range trip, snooze . . .
I'm surprised someone hasn't stood on a podium somewhere calling for legislation regulating ammunition over this.
The_War_Wagon
09-23-14, 20:33
The President is a joke, his security might as well be as incompetent... But I'm sure they were all "hand picked" by Obama and his staff.
Al Sharpton-approved affirmative action hires - excuse we MUCH!
And ya' GOTTA love their response - "We're going to start locking the front door."
PRICELESS! :haha:
FromMyColdDeadHand
09-24-14, 00:02
The President is a joke, his security might as well be as incompetent.
Please let them be competent AND lucky. If BHO bites it, out side of being killed by the prophet Mohammed himself, it will be blamed on white guys, the country is racist, blah, di-di, blah-blah. Michele could smother him and they'd blame Rush Limbaugh.
BHO is a progressive schmuck, where's the news in that. If Bush treated minorities with the disdain and contempt that BHO shows the military, they would have impeached him.
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