Rep. Jason Chaffetz said the fact that fence jumpers can gain such easy entry to the White House is scary, and he wonders if the current administration is perhaps failing to take security as seriously as it should.
In response to the separate White House property intrusions over the weekend, Mr. Chaffetz suggested if “12 guys” tried to breach the fence at the same time, the administration could be in serious trouble, The Washington Post reported.
Then in a separate interview, he said: “We’re inviting more attacks. The bad guys are paying attention. It seems the current leadership is not taking security as seriously as it needs to be in this day and age. It really scares me,” The Washington Post said.
His comments come on the heels of a revelation that Secret Service commissioned a mock attack a couple of decades ago that found that the agents could be easily overwhelmed if six or eight intruders tried to climb the fence simultaneously, Not much has changed in terms of addressing that vulnerability, The Washington Post reported.
In fact, the agency’s been plagued with staffing shortages and high turnover rates, and the vulnerabilities found in that previous report could have actually worsened through the years — though Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan declined to comment, The Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, President Obama praised the Secret Service to its “great job,” and said he was “grateful for all the sacrifices they make on my behalf and on my family’s behalf,” The Washington Post said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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