WASHINGTON — An intruder was able to climb a fence and enter the White House in September because of a succession of “performance, organizational, technical” and other failures by the Secret Service, according to a damning review of the incident by the Department of Homeland Security.
The review found that the Secret Service’s alarm systems and radios failed to function properly, and that many of the responding officers did not see the intruder as he climbed over the fence, delaying their response.
Omar Gonzalez, the man charged in the incident, could have been stopped by a Secret Service officer who was stationed on the North Lawn with an attack dog, the review said. But the officer did not realize that an intruder had made it over the fence because he was sitting in his van talking on his personal cellphone.
The officer did not have his radio earpiece in, and had left the second radio he was supposed to have in his locker. It was only after he saw another officer running toward Mr. Gonzalez that he was alerted to the security breach. At that point, the officer gave the dog the command to attack, but the dog had not had a chance to “lock onto” the intruder “and may not have seen” him at all, according to the review. Mr. Gonzalez continued into the White House.
The review has not been made public, but members of Congress were briefed on it Thursday. An executive summary was obtained by The New York Times.The review of the Sept. 19 breach is part of a much broader investigation of the Secret Service being conducted by the deputy secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. That investigation is focused on other incidents in which the White House fence was scaled and how security at the White House could be improved. Julia Pierson, the director of the Secret Service, resigned after the September incident as well as other security lapses by the agency.
In addition to faulting the Secret Service for its handling of the security breach, the review also found that the agency mishandled its investigation of Mr. Gonzalez in the months before he succeeded in entering the White House. He first came to the attention of the authorities in July when he was arrested on gun charges in Virginia. A month later, he was stopped outside the White House carrying a hatchet but was not arrested.
The report also said that because of staffing shortages, the uniformed Secret Service officers who were responsible for protecting the White House did not receive adequate training. But the bulk of the report focuses on what happened on the evening of Sept. 19, from the time officers recognized Mr. Gonzalez outside the White House.
Mr. Gonzalez did not appear to show any odd behavior, so the officers did not talk to him or alert their supervisors. An hour later, at 7:19 p.m., officers on Pennsylvania Avenue spotted him climbing over the fence at a point where one of the ornamental spikes was missing. The officers ran toward him and told him to stop, but he continued over the fence onto the North Lawn.
One officer called over his radio that someone had gone over the fence, and an alarm was sounded. Two officers approached Mr. Gonzalez with their firearms pointed at him and told him to stop. He continued running, and the officers decided not to use lethal force because they did not believe he was armed.
One of the officers followed Mr. Gonzalez into the bushes in front of the North Portico but lost sight of him.
The summary said that the officers “were surprised that Gonzalez was able to get through the bushes” because “prior to that evening, the officers believed the bushes” were too thick to pass through.
It was at that time that the officer with the dog joined the pursuit.
An officer stationed nearby was unable to see what was occurring because his view was obstructed by trees and bushes. That officer “was unable to hear any comprehensible radio communications about alarm breaks or Gonzalez” until he had gotten close to the North Portico entrance.
“By the time the officer exited his vehicle and began yelling commands at Gonzalez, Gonzalez had nearly arrived at the bushes,” according to the summary. “The officer was unable to reach Gonzalez before he entered the bushes and, as a result, went around the bushes toward the North Portico only to find that Gonzalez had already entered the White House.”
An officer stationed at the North Portico door could not hear on the radio what was occurring and had an obstructed view. Instead of remaining at the door, the officer took out his weapon and took cover behind a pillar. The officer put his finger on the trigger of his gun, pointed it at Mr. Gonzalez as he came up the stairs, and told him to stop. But, Mr. Gonzalez continued running and the officer did not shoot because he did not believe Mr. Gonzalez was armed. It was later discovered that Mr. Gonzalez had a knife.
The wooden doors at the North Portico were closed and the officer assumed they were locked. “Believing that Gonzalez was trapped, and concerned that the canine might erroneously lock onto him, the officer chose to remain in place and out of the way” of the other officers who were chasing after him.
But the doors were not locked, and Mr. Gonzalez entered the White House. The emergency communication system by the entrance had been muted. As the officer stationed there tried to lock the doors, Mr. Gonzalez “barged through them and knocked her backward.” She told him to stop but he continued on to the East Room.
“After attempting twice to physically take Gonzalez down but failing to do so because of the size disparity between the two, the officer then attempted to draw her baton but accidentally grabbed her flashlight instead,” the report said. “The officer threw down her flashlight, drew her firearm, and continued to give Gonzalez commands that he ignored.”
Mr. Gonzalez entered the East Room, but then exited, heading down the hallway. Two officers stationed in the White House, assisted by two plainclothes agents who had just finished their shifts, tackled him.
Outside the White House several officers, who said they did not know the layout of the building, were lining up in a tactical formation. “By the time they entered,” the report said, “Gonzalez had already been subdued,” it said.
A copy of the findings was given to the acting Secret Service director, Joseph Clancy, at the end of last month so he “could immediately begin to take any additional security measures that the findings warranted in order to better ensure the White House complex is secure,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. But no Secret Service agents or officers have been disciplined in connection with the incident.
