Yet more shocking Revelations coming to light in the ongoing Saga surrounding the Secret Service and the Security of the President of the United States and his family. New Information coming to light reveals that the recent lapses involving the Secret Service may be just the tip of the Iceberg.
The Washington Post Reports :
A security contractor with a gun and three prior convictions for assault and battery was allowed on an elevator with President Obama during a Sept. 16 trip to Atlanta, violating Secret Service protocols, according to three people familiar with the incident.
President Obama was not told of the lapse in his security during his trip. Director Julia Pierson , according to two people familiar with the incident, took steps to have the matter reviewed internally and did not refer it to an investigative unit that reviews violations of protocol and standard. The incident, which rattled Secret Service agents assigned to the president’s detail, occurred as Obama visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss the U.S. response to the Ebola crisis. The private contractor aroused the agents’ concerns when he did not comply with their orders that he stop using a phone camera to videotape the president in the elevator, according to the people familiar with the incident. The man was also acted oddly, the people said. Agents questioned the man when they exited the elevator, and then used a national database check to learn of his criminal history.
When a supervisor from the firm providing security at the CDC approached and discovered the agents’ concerns, the contractor was fired on the spot and agreed to turn over his gun — surprising agents, who had not realized he was armed during his encounter with Obama. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R‑Utah), who first heard of the breakdown from a whistleblower, said he was appalled at the incident. The Washington Post confirmed details of the event with other people familiar with the agency’s review. “You have a convicted felon within arm’s reach of the president and they never did a background check,” Chaffetz said. “Words aren’t strong enough for the outrage I feel for the safety of the President and his family.
Chaffetz added: “His life was in danger. This country would be a different world today if he had pulled out his gun.”
It is the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Secret Service, whose director, Julia Pierson, drew criticism Tuesday from lawmakers in both parties during a combative hearing that focused on her agency’s security lapses. The hearing focused on a man who was able to foil Secret Service officers by jumping the White House fence Sept. 19 and also a 2011 shooting at the residence that the Secret Service failed to identify and properly investigate.
The elevator incident exposed another serious breakdown in the Secret Service’s safety protocols: this one meant to keep the president safe from strangers when he travels to events outside the White House. In close quarters or small events, when the president is on the road, all of the people who could have access to him must be checked in advance for weapons and any criminal history. In response to a question at the hearing Tuesday, Pierson said she briefs the president “100% of the time” when his personal security has been breached. However, she said Tuesday that has only happened one time this year: soon after Omar Gonzalez jumped over the White House fence Sept. 19 and was able to burst into the mansion. A Secret Service spokesman said the agency would provide a response soon. Some elements of the Atlanta incident were first reported Tuesday afternoon on the Washington Examiner’s website. The security contractor became upset with agents who asked him to stop filming the president with his camera phone, behavior that led agents to question him.
Under a security program called the Arm’s Reach Program, Secret Service advance staff run potential staff, contractors, hotel employees, invited guests and volunteers through several databases, including a national criminal information registry, and records kept by the CIA, NSA and Department of Defense, among others. Anyone who is found to have a criminal history, mental illness, or other indications of risk is barred from entry. Local police and federal officers are not checked in the same way under the Arm’s Reach Program, with the Secret Service presuming they meet the safety standards because of their employment. But private security contractors would be checked, two former agents who worked on advance planning for presidential trips said.
Two former advance agents said that, for nearly every trip, someone would be barred from attending or participating in a presidential trip because of some prior or current problem found in a check of their name. Usually, it involved a local Democratic or Republican party campaign volunteer who was offering to help drive staff to and from events during the visit – but had an assault conviction.Former and current agents say this method is
- Julie Tate contributed to this report.
Julia Pierson
For weeks the Nation has been inundated with News about the National Football League, there is no escaping the continuous barrage of condemnation for Ray Rice who punched his fiancé Janay Rice ]née Palmer. Just today a group of female Lawmakers in the State of New Jersey renewed calls for the firing of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Where are these Feminist Ideologues now that the Nation’s 44th, and first African American President and his family seem to be subjected to abject carelessness and incompetence at the least and at worse much more ? Clearly Julia Pierson is not up to doing this Job. It should come as no surprise that the President cannot come out against the Secret Service, he has to depend on them to protect him and his family for the rest of their lives. It falls on the Congress to provide the necessary oversight .
Where is the oversight?
Why does Julia Pierson still have this job ? Is she up to the job? Was that female Agent who was run over by Omar Gonzalez up to the job? What if the President or any member of his family was in the vicinity of Gonzalez’s path? Why was anyone not known to the Secret Service allowed on an elevator with the President of the United States? Why are quotas and political correctness allowed to trump the safety and security of the President?
In a World where men dare not question the capabilities of women to do certain jobs, these are the consequences. Where are the calls for this woman to be booted from this position, where she is clearly in over her head.. Why put a woman in a position where she would be over-run and obviously unable to react? What will be the price paid before this political correctness nonsense end. Obama for his part is one of the Chief proponent of this out of control political correctness which will invariably have dire consequences for the country. Judging from Pierson’s confusing responses and the sequence serious lapses by the Secret Service,including on overseas trips. One is left to wonder at the real danger to this President and his family if an attack was well coördinated and executed by a group of people who know what they are doing!!
This is a serious breach of security as ever, if ever there was one. Yet there is an almost deafening silence . Where is the outrage How can an Agency with a mandate to protect the Nation’s Chief Executive fail so dismally and the head stays intact? What will have to happen before Julia Pierson is booted from this job and a comprehensive Review done to ensure that these things never ever happen again, Irrespective of who the President is?
Only time or a serious event will tell.