Secret Service discloses 40 barrier-jumping incidents

There were more than twice as many incidents involving White House complex fence- and barrier-jumping over the last five years than the U.S. Secret Service previously publicly disclosed, although the vast majority of them involved breaches of lower barriers than the main fence.

The Secret Service on Friday provided a thorough accounting to Congress about the number of security breaches over the last five years at the White House complex and the circumstances surrounding them.

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The documents highlight the difficulty of protecting the sprawling White House compound from mentally ill individuals determined to breach security.

Ten separate instances involve someone scaling the fixed security fencing surrounding the White House complex to access a restricted area without authorization.

Another 30 involved people illegally crossing more temporary, lower types of fencing, known as “bike racks” or police tape surrounding the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the New Executive Office Building or the U.S. Treasury Department building and surrounding space.

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The Secret Service identified seven additional instances of individuals entering restricted areas of the White House complex without authorization, including the Salahis, a Northern Virginia couple, and D.C. resident Carlos Allen. The three, since dubbed the “party crashers” by the press, gained access to a State dinner in fall 2009.

This year alone there were four instances of someone jumping over the White House North fence line, including Omar Gonzales, who made it into the ceremonial heart of the White House before agents wrestled him to the ground in September.

The report did not include the latest episode on Oct. 22, in which two guard dogs almost instantaneously took down a jumper. That incident occurred after the fiscal year was over.

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On March 30, one man jumped over the North fence and ran across the lawn, ignoring numerous orders to stop. He was then apprehended by a K-9 unit and taken to a hospital.

“He appeared to suffer from mental illness and stated that he wanted to talk to the president about the health care law,” the report stated, without naming the name. “He admitted to drug use and non-compliance with psychiatric mediation.”

The Secret Service immediately arrested him and issued an order requiring him to stay away from the White House.

In another instance, in July, a mentally ill individual wanting to give Obama a recording of his music jumped the White House North fence and was immediately arrested and issued a stay-away order.

Just eight days before Gonzales ran across the North Lawn into the open front door of the White House, on Sept. 11, an individual carrying a stuffed animal jumped over the fence and stated that he wanted to “bring awareness to several personal grievances he had with the City of Albany, NY.”

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Before stepping down in early October, then-U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson testified that there had been 16 fence-jumpers in the last five years, specifically mentioning the Sept. 11 incident.

She also said that the Secret Service had arrested or detained hundreds of other individuals who had approached the White House grounds using threatening language, although she never said any of them breached the perimeter.

“In addition to fence-jumpers, over the last five years hundreds of individuals have approached the White House perimeter, verbalizing threats to our protectees or acting in a suspicious manner,” she testified. “Officers and agents routinely leverage their experience and training to make decisions to either arrest or transfer these individuals to appropriate facilities for mental health evaluations.”

It’s unclear how Pierson evaluated the incidents and why she considered 16 fence-jumpers but didn’t mention any others who violated the White House perimeter.

Acting Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy, in a thorough accounting to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday, said there were 10 fence-jumpers over five years and an additional 30 who crossed less-permanent barriers.

In a cover letter, Clancy said that he provided the information in response to a “specific data request” from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is chairman of the panel.

“As the newly appointed acting director of the United States Secret Service, the recent incidents have my personal attention and I appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns,” Clancy wrote.

Many of the barrier violations involve individuals who were either mentally ill, drunk or high, and in some cases they were both mentally ill and either drunk or high. There also were several that involved people who said they were trying to find a shortcut for the D.C. Metro system or were tourists or protesters who claimed to be unaware of the gravity of crossing the temporary barriers.

In only two instances did the Secret Service allow the individuals involved to walk away without arresting them after questioning.

The violations ranged from an individual in August 2010 climbing over a barrier to get a “better view of the White House,” two people in 2010 climbing onto the first floor façade of the Treasury building to “better display their signs during an anti-war demonstration” to an individual also in 2010 running through an open vehicle gate and threatening to kill the president amid “rambling religious references” while experiencing “hallucinations.”

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In early September 2010, a mentally ill man jumped over a temporary barrier near 15th Street and Alexander Hamilton Place, reportedly to see Obama. He believed he was the real president and that Obama “would step aside once he arrived.”

On July 4, 2011, a man — one who had driven to the White House earlier that day claiming that the president owed him a large sum of money — climbed over a temporary barrier at Blair House dressed in an Uncle Sam costume.

In February 2013, a man climbed over the security fencing in an attempt to see the president. “He believed he was no longer a real person and felt that the president possessed the ability to reinstate him,” the U.S. Secret Service report to Congress states.

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