A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who lives part-time in Washington, D.C., and frequently walks past the White House said Secret Service agents are texting too much, and it’s putting the president in danger.
“I am a part-time resident of Washington and frequently walk to the White House,” retired DEA Agent Michael Grimes wrote, in a letter that was posted on Washington journalist Craig Crawford’s website, said The Daily Caller.
“At any given time, and within my view from any location around the White House, I see at least one, if not more, uniform officers with their heads down playing with an electronic device,” Mr. Grimes said, the news outlet reported. “I have seen as many as three officers, standing together, and every one of them had their heads down and not paying a bit of attention. I have walked to within just a few feet of these officers and not one will look up. This is not only disgraceful, it is downright dangerous.”
Mr. Grimes — who owns a company that specializes in training and consulting law enforcement on risk assessment procedures — also said it wouldn’t take much for someone to overpower the Secret Service and attack the White House.
“These people are not being paid to text with their friends or Google for some place to spend a day off,” he wrote, The Daily Caller reported.
The accusations come on the heels of two separate fence-jumping incidents at the White House this past weekend.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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