The Secret Service admitted Thursday to doing a little detective work via Facebook when Director Mark Sullivan told the Homeland Security Committee exactly how they found out about the party crash heard ’round the world.
“Was it your own discovery that some interlopers had entered?” questioned Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.
“We did not discover that on our own,” Sullivan replied. “We were advised of it the following day.”
“Advised by who, sir?” Norton inquired.
“Facebook.”
It was the infamous Facebook photos of Michaele and Tareq Salahi cozied up to Vice President Biden and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that tipped off the Secret Service the day after the dinner. Washington Post gossip gal Roxanne Roberts, however, was mentioned at the hearing for being the first to identify the crashers to White House staffers.
Not only did the Secret Service have to own up to its, um, unconventional methods of investigation, it also took a hit from Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who suggested it could learn a thing or two from ticketing and entering procedures at a Bruce Springsteen show.
Harman called the concert “a very smooth security experience.”
“I’m not suggesting that Christmas at the White House is a Bruce Springsteen concert,” Harman told Sullivan. “But what I am suggesting is there may be more modern techniques for screening people who are trying to enter the White House building.”
