IS THE SAFETY OF POTUS IN SERIOUS JEOPARDY UNDER THE CURRENT SECRET SERVICE?

 

…It shouldn’t be that hard to protect this one piece of US Government property

 

The Secret Service is now being questioned as to whether it is still the most elite & competent police service in the nation.

A number of key government investigators have made comments over the past decade as to how the Homeland Security Dept. is not exactly the best run operation within the vast bureaucracy of the DC agencies.  It’s also been said that the morale, capability and culture of the elite organization known as the US Secret Service has seriously declined since it was moved in 2003 from its long-time position within the Treasury Department to Homeland Security.   

Yes, negative news about the Secret Service became big news in 2012 when a presidential advance Secret Service team got into trouble as some of the agents visiting Cartagena, Columbia, decided to hire same hookers.  Now, apparently the agents had hired hookers while on the road before, but obviously, they never dreamed they’d be found out by their bosses, their wives, and eventually the entire world. It was also learned that unfortunately, while the Secret Service didn’t expressly condone womanizing and solicitation, it definitely hadn’t gone out of its way to stamp out such behavior.

It now appears that the agency’s low morale and their internal need for more Secret Service staff has come home to roost.  It’s also coming at a time when this organization is required to protect the nation’s First Family and a US President that has been threatened 3 times more than any previous US President.  I guess, being the first black American president can cause that kind of situation.

Two terrifying stories about attacks against the White House became public within only 24 hours of each other last week.  This has also occurred just as a House Committee was scheduled to quiz Ms. Julia Pierson, the Director of the Secret Service who was appointed to the post just last year.

These two stories do include the unbelievable reality that it took four days for the Secret Service to realize that a gunman had fired at least seven bullets that actually hit the White House on the evening of Nov. 11, 2011.

The second Secret Service story was concerning the recent White House North Lawn fence-jumper that was allowed by the Service to run the length of the White House lawn and burst through the front door of the White House.  A minimum of five serious Secret Service protocols were violated in the letting of the intruder actually enter what is many times referred to as “the most protected residence in the world”.

Initially, we Americans, were told that this latest intruder was stopped at the inside of the White House front door.  But we now know that the intruder, with a serrated blade knife in his hand, made it inside and past the guard and the landing that leads to the family residence.  He even made it down the long East Room and almost to the adjacent Green Room.  It wasn’t until at that point that the intruder was tackled by an internal agent.  An agent that was off duty and that should not have even been concerned with having to deal with an intruder coming from the outside.  Fortunately, the first family had previously left the South Lawn on the Marine One helicopter for Camp David only 10 minutes earlier.

 

…First Family leaving on Marine One

 

What is so frightening is that the fence jumping intruder was no stranger to the White House.

This retired military veteran, Omar Gonzalez, who has had some mental issues with PTSD, was previously apprehended months ago outside the perimeter of the White House with an arsenal of weapons in his car and a map of DC with the White House circled.  (The Secret Service had then been informed by the DC police about Mr. Gonzalez and the marked White House on the DC map.) Gonzalez was also, at an even later date, apprehended just outside the White House fence when he came to the attention of the DC police as they noticed a hatchet stuffed in Mr. Gonzalez’ belt. 

As disturbing as this latest event is, the shooting event going back to 2011 is even more disturbing.

The situations surrounding the 2011 shooting of the White House reveals a long string of agency failures, missteps and false assumptions. They are all heart-stopping because they are totally counter to the Secret Service’s past image as an elite force that has for years successfully protected the many presidents of the United States.

In the November 2011 shootings, President Obama and the first lady were out of town, but their daughter Sasha was at home with her grandmother. The other daughter, Malia, was expected home any minute which was just after the shooter, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez, had fired his semiautomatic rifle at the south side of the executive mansion.

But the problem is, it took the Secret Service four days to even realize that shots had even hit the White House residence.  That discovery came only after a housekeeper had noticed some broken glass and a chunk of cement on the White House residence floor.  The cement was a chunk that had been shot-off of the Truman Balcony.  When the seven shots were eventually all discovered that had hit the White House, the repairs eventually cost $100,000.

But it was the circumstances around the shootings that is both frightening and bizarre.

We now know there were actually some Washington DC police officers who heard the gunshots.  They had also seen some smoke evidence of gunshots and were close enough that they even smelled gunpowder in the air.  But for some unknown reason, those near the scene were told, “No shots have been fired. . . . Stand down.”  The news reports said that a police supervisor, “…said the noise was the backfire from a nearby construction vehicle.”  So, seven or more shots were all supposed to be car backfires….?

The shooter, Ortega-Hernandez, however, had actually crashed his car as he tried to flee the scene and he had run away from the crash.  A homeless man told the Secret Service agent who arrived on the scene that he saw “a young white male running from the vehicle after the crash and heading toward the Georgetown area.” But, somehow, the police began looking for the wrong people: i.e.: two black men supposedly fleeing down Rock Creek Parkway.”  And just why was that?  Nobody seems to know.

And the story gets better…or worse as it was.

In their infinite wisdom, once confirmed, the Secret Service initially theorized that the gunfire wasn’t even meant for the White House.  The agency’s supervisors “theorized that gang members in separate cars had gotten into a gunfight near the White House’s front lawn.” Yes, I’m serious.  In fact, a Secret Service Officer, Ms. Carrie Johnson, who was stationed under the Truman Balcony of the White House when the bullets hit, in fear of being criticized by her fellow agents, she did not mention that she was aware of shots hitting the Truman Balcony.

The reality is that the shooter, Ortega-Hernandez, believed President Obama to be the “anti-Christ” and that he must be killed.  He was later located in a Pennsylvania hotel and arrested the very next day. He is currently serving a 25 year jail sentence. 

However, the anger that it caused the First Family is hard to not convey.

The first lady was extremely upset when she heard about the shooting.  The president was in Australia at the time and Michelle had addressed the then Secret Service Director in such a sharp and raised voice that she was heard by the staff through a thick closed door. Among her many questions was: How did they miss bullets from an assault rifle that were lodged in the walls of her home?  There was no response.

Former aides have stated that when the president returned and heard the news, he started fuming at the Director as well. Not only had their aides failed to immediately alert the first lady, but the Secret Service had seriously stumbled in its eventual response to the event.

So, today, the new Director Pierson has a long list of big issues with which to deal.  Not only is the Secret Service short of needed personnel, they have a morale issue that is totally foreign to any of the previous elite Secret Service teams.

It is imperative that these issues be dealt with post-haste.  The safety of our American President and the First Family are depending on the Secret Service Director being more than successful.

Copyright G.Ater  2014