White House Intruder Got Far Deeper Into Building Than Originally Reported
The intruder overpowered a Secret Service agent and ran through the main floor of the White House.
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An alarm box near the front entrance of the White House designed to alert guards to an intruder had been muted at what officers believed was a request of the usher’s office, said a Secret Service official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The officer posted inside the front door appeared to be delayed in learning that the intruder, Omar Gonzalez, was about to burst through. Officers are trained that, upon learning of an intruder on the grounds, often through the alarm boxes posted around the property, they must immediately lock the front door.
After barreling past the guard immediately inside the door, Gonzalez, who was carrying a knife, dashed past the stairway leading a half-flight up to the first family’s living quarters. He then ran into the 80-foot-long East Room, an ornate space often used for receptions or presidential addresses.
Gonzalez was tackled by a counter-assault agent at the far southern end of the East Room…
Secret Service officials had earlier said he was quickly detained at the main entry. Agency spokesman Edwin Donovan said the office is not commenting due to an ongoing investigation of the incident.[su_csky_ad]
Anomaly 100 September 29th, 2014 at 5:25 pm
Why not just have open house, serve cake, give out maps, etc?
R.J. Carter September 29th, 2014 at 5:34 pm
It’s just another building…
http://youtu.be/PIWskgVx_v0?t=2m1s
Anomaly 100 September 29th, 2014 at 5:54 pm
Oooo are you ready for The Flash? It comes on next month.
R.J. Carter September 30th, 2014 at 9:39 am
I am SO ready for The Flash! (Can I cross promote my review on my shiny new website? Can I? Huh? Can I?)
Anomaly 100 September 30th, 2014 at 11:55 am
Of course. You know people!
R.J. Carter September 30th, 2014 at 11:57 am
😀
In case people didn’t know why my avatar changed:
http://www.criticalblast.com/articles/2014/09/19/cws-flash-cant-get-here-fast-enough
Anomaly 100 September 30th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
Great site, but you already know I’m a fan.
R.J. Carter September 30th, 2014 at 12:14 pm
And we appreciate your support! 🙂
Anomaly 100 September 30th, 2014 at 1:32 pm
edmeyer_able September 29th, 2014 at 5:39 pm
Actually Omar had gotten directions from sarah palin and thought he was at chic-fil-a.
forpeace September 29th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
I’m surprised why Omar did not go jump over the fence at George W Bush’s Crawford Ranch in Texas.
mea_mark September 29th, 2014 at 6:04 pm
He went to school here in Texas and once he got away he probably didn’t want to come back.
forpeace September 29th, 2014 at 6:05 pm
I thought he was living in Texas in recent years.
mea_mark September 29th, 2014 at 6:10 pm
I don’t recall how much time he spent here but he was considered a local in a town close to where I live. He was homeless after getting out of military is all I know about recent stuff. Copperas Cove where he spent a good part of his childhood is and was a very religious Bible belt type community. A true haven for Christian RWNJs.
I gotta add. Copperas Cove is growing up though now. They now have a super walmart and an overpass on the edge of town.
forpeace September 29th, 2014 at 6:15 pm
Yes, I heard he was sadly living as homeless in recent years. I’m sure living in that kind of community has affects on prople who live there.
Thank you so much for the information.
arc99 September 29th, 2014 at 5:47 pm
I love action movies. When I watch some of them, I tell my self that I have to suspend my disbelief and it really would be possible (with the correct planning) to steal the Declaration of Independence or for terrorists to take over the White House.
As this story unfolds, perhaps there is not as much disbelief to suspend as I thought. He got through with a knife (presumably metal). What if he had a gun? Would security in the East Room have been tighter if the President was on the premises?
I think it would be best if the full details are never made public. No need to publicly advertise security shortcomings and the proposed remedies. Transparency takes a back seat to the security of the President of the United States, regardless of whether or not that President is someone I voted for.
forpeace September 29th, 2014 at 6:03 pm
Last week Steven Bucci was strongly opposing the additional measures to keep the White House and President more safe, he said: “So you’re going to further isolate the White House. Why don’t we just move the White House out to West Virginia or something?”
———–
Last person we need to get advice from is Steven Bucci who is director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He joined the think tank as senior research fellow for defense and homeland security in April 2012, and was promoted to director of Sarah Allison Center at The Heritage Foundation in December 2012. He is in charge of the group of issues that fall under the Protect America initiative. The same Heritage Foundation which is the political activities of the Koch Brothers, The same Koch Bothers and Tea Party groups that were advertising for, and supporting the “Operation American Spring” aka the anarchist armed militia and their supporters that went to Washington D.C. on Friday, May 16, 2014 to drive President Obama from the Oval Office.
Security and safety of the President and the White House are very important, so is keeping tourists who are vital to the local economy in the city. But, we are living in a time that there are so many crazy nuts out there who do not even believe President Obama is American, and in some cases they even believe he is a terrorist and anti-American (some of those who deliver speeches at The Heritage Foundation believe the same thing,) and their supporters believe them, so they will do whatever they can to harm the President in anyway possible.
It is always better to be safe than sorry.
Anomaly 100 September 29th, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Bucci is probably trying to scale the fence to the White House now…
forpeace September 29th, 2014 at 6:38 pm
I’m sure he would love to do that, there is no doubt about it.
dave-dr-gonzo September 29th, 2014 at 7:57 pm
It’s almost as if Bucci wants to see something awful happen to President Obama and/or his family. As a foreign policy expert, he should know enough to shut his neocon pinhole on all other topics, because it ends up tipping the entire hand of the neo-Confederate hate mongers who finance the so-called Heritage (of White Male Conservative Hegemony) Foundation.
forpeace September 29th, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Exactly, he will be delighted if something happens to President or the First Family. That is why he is opposing the extra measures.
searambler September 29th, 2014 at 6:50 pm
“Secret Service officials had earlier said he was quickly detained at the main entry. Agency spokesman Edwin Donovan said the office is not commenting due to an ongoing investigation of the incident.”
Translation: we screwed up, so we’ll say nothing (“ongoing investigation” wink wink) and hope everyone forgets about it. Oh look, a squirrel!
Peanutcat September 29th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Heads should roll for this!
Wayout September 29th, 2014 at 8:28 pm
And the agent inside the door? A woman. I mean really, why are there not big burley men protecting the President? Oops, I forgot, can’t discriminate.
arc99 September 29th, 2014 at 8:45 pm
that’s right you can’t discriminate. I know that really bothers right wingers that we cannot return to the halcyon days of the 19th century when only white Christian property owning men were entitled to full citizenship.
although as I think about it you may have a point. It is possible that never in the history of civilized man has a male law enforcement officer ever been overpowered by a criminal. I will check and let you know.
burqa September 29th, 2014 at 9:32 pm
Who did you have in mind, Wayout?
Clint Hill?
Thanks for speaking honestly.
A lot of conservatives conceal their desire for a return to times when discrimination was accepted.
Earlier today I was reading some early American history about how Roman Catholics, Jews, Methodists, Baptists and others were prevented from practicing certain professions, voting or holding public office.
It’s not often we have someone stand up for discrimination these days…..
William September 30th, 2014 at 12:38 am
“why are there not big burley men protecting the President?”
Because not everyone sees the fat lazy truck driver image as particularly effective for security details.
I can absolutely promise you that you would not survive 10 minutes in my wife’s boot camp style fitness class.
KB723 September 29th, 2014 at 8:48 pm
Anybody ever wonder what happened to Habeas Corpus???
burqa September 29th, 2014 at 9:23 pm
I am furious at this breach of security and the sorry way this has been handled.
The “ongoing investigation” should not be delaying obvious action that needs to be taken immediately. The day this happened the Secret Service should have taken a break from lying to us and within an hour determined which officers were derelict and another hour later had them on a plane to their next assignment – guard duty outside an abandoned DEW Line station somewhere near the Arctic Circle.
The nitwits in the Usher’s Office who did their part to punch a hole in our security should have already been given a cardboard box to clear out their desks.
One more obvious step that should have been taken is to update the Secret Service uniform to include Mickey Mouse ears.
juicyfruityyy September 30th, 2014 at 1:09 am
Some of the SS mean were never loyal to the President. Never understood why he kept them on. He should train some of the immigrants at the border; give them a gun. This may deter some of them; from entering the property.