Can we please get this right?
Who doesn’t get into the White House uninvited these days?
WASHINGTON — It wasn’t a state dinner, and they didn’t crash it on purpose.
Still, a Georgia couple who showed up at the White House a day early for a tour somehow wound up at an invitation-only breakfast with President Barack Obama and the first lady. It left the White House once again explaining how people who were not on an event guest list wound up being ushered into the presidential mansion anyway.
This happened two weeks before the Salahis famously crashed a state dinner with the prime minister of India, and it falls in line with a number of other protocol-related gaffes in the last 11 months. Quite obviously, the president needs better protection than a staff that lets random tourists into the house, tells them to just “go with the flow,” and lets them stand right next to him. Someone fairly high up the White House totem pole needs to get a grip on this, now.
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33 comments Add your comment
Peter
December 16th, 2009
9:20 am
Seems Kyle this has been an on going problem……..even in Bush’s time.
Secret Service report details 91 security breaches
By JULIE PACE
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — An internal Secret Service document used for training purposes indicates 91 security breaches since 1980.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says the agency used the 2003 report to evaluate security procedures and help agents improve their response to breaches. Donovan says that since 2001, there have been 10 security breaches, including an incident last month where a couple was allowed to enter a White House state dinner despite not being on the guest list.
An official who had access to the report said most, but not all of the 91 breaches involved the president. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the report. The document was first reported in The Washington Post.
But Getting the problem corrected for a change would be a good Idea !
George Foreman 3:16
December 16th, 2009
9:30 am
Alf’s Dad certainly is Jewish but he’s no carpenter, with a pro-war/anti-healthcare agenda….
Scout
December 16th, 2009
9:46 am
Keep this in perspective. 91 breaches since 1980 out of hundreds of thousands of guests? What you left out is that he said a breach also involves a fence jumper, something thrown over the fence, etc., etc.
Even the “breachers” that see or shake hands with the President have gone through security just like everyone else and MORE security than the thousands and thousands of people outside the White House that POTUS shakes hands with every year.
This is really being blown out of proportion. You can’t protect the President 100% or you would have to seal him/her in a lead box and then they would suffocate. 99.9% of you out there don’t have what it takes to even become a Secret Service agent so if you have a better plan …………. hire those people, put it in place and see what happens.
Much ado about an “administrative staff” problem vs. a security problem.
jconservative
December 16th, 2009
9:57 am
Kyle this happened over a month ago.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2009
10:13 am
And just came out publicly yesterday, jconservative.
Scout, I’d be much less concerned about this if it were an isolated incident, or maybe even if the couple had been escorted into a room where the president wasn’t going to be. It’s at that point that the “administrative staff” problem, as you accurately describe it, becomes a security problem.
I’m not asking for 100 percent protection; you’re right that that’s impossible. But is it too much to ask that these kinds of mistakes, or misjudgments, or whatever, be avoided?
Davo
December 16th, 2009
10:14 am
I find it unfortunate that Kyle has to resort to GOP talking points in order to create a worthy discussion. Nothing personal here Kyle but I’m finding alot of your recent posts to be like this one, and it is disappointing. If I want to hear what the party shills have to say I would go to Drudge or Huffington as I’m assuming you did. Bloggasphere rubber-necking I can do without.
dewstarpath
December 16th, 2009
10:21 am
- I agree with Davo. It seems like the AJC’s “Barr Code”
has a wider range of topics to discuss. I like Kyle’s forums,
but the postings of late seem to always diminish to
“Republicans are right; Democrats are wrong”, orr vice-versa.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2009
10:21 am
Davo, I missed the GOP press release about this one. I happen to think that lackadaisical security, or “administrative” measures if you prefer, at the White House is a problem.
Davo
December 16th, 2009
10:33 am
“I happen to think that lackadaisical security, or “administrative” measures if you prefer, at the White House is a problem.”
w/e…your losing credibility.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2009
10:37 am
dewstar: I find it interesting that you think that. If you’ll look at my last 10 posts, I think you’ll find that I criticized Republicans about as much as I did Democrats. In fact, I think you would see more criticism of the Republicans as a party as opposed to the Democrats, whose specific policies I’ve criticized.
I truly am interested in knowing what kinds of topics interest y’all, because that’s what I’m trying to provide here. Frankly, when I post about other topics I tend to hear mostly crickets chirping — which tells me that people aren’t interested in reading about or engaging on them.
Personally, I was interested in the Boeing 787’s first flight yesterday because I used to write a bit about aerospace firms when I was in Europe, but I didn’t think readers would be as interested in that. Was I wrong?
Churchill's MOM
December 16th, 2009
10:46 am
I am interested in how much the cost over run from the 787 Federal Government is going to pick up in the tanker disaster. Thank god we have John McCain to watch out for the taxpayer, the rest of congress is only interested in what’s best for their favorite lobbyist. POLITICO has a good bit about the Washington vs Alabama fight, of course Boeing is based in Chicago so guess who is going to win the current round?
Tyler Durden
December 16th, 2009
10:53 am
Once again, the Right is cherry picking details so they can inore their own issues. Remember ‘Jeff Gannon’, the ‘reporter’ who famously got access to Bush’s briefings and got called on frequently for some HIGHLY favorable press coverage supporting the Dubious regime? The one who, as it turns out, was nothing more than a paid hack with no actual journalist credentials who was simply a placed shill to present GOP talking points. He didn’t even use his real name and got access to and preferential treatment from Bush’s White House. And I believe it turned he was a former male escort. Family Values, indeed…
Where’s the manufactured outrage over that. Oh, that’s right. Fox News didn’t tell Kyle to notice it, so he can’t…
Peter
December 16th, 2009
10:53 am
Well Kyle’s blog today is fairly innocent……. kind of goofy in fact.
So I have a question for Linda and all the non believers in the man made Global warming stuff.
Because you believe in God creating the earth….My question to you all would be this.
On what day did God create your most precious liquid…OIL ?
Jimmy62
December 16th, 2009
10:54 am
How about some discussion about space and the future of humanity. I think we should do everything we can to get off this planet and expand across the solar system as fast as possible, and consider that the best way to benefit humanity in the very long-term. Other people would argue that we should nix space for now, and fix our problems at home. My response is that we will never have a perfect society on Earth (or anywhere else), and that by getting off the planet we protect our species and create platforms for innovations and the development of new science and technology that could then come back and help the people still on Earth. Who knows, we might figure out the answer to global warming by studying other planets in our solar system.
So how about some discussions that go far beyond the political horizon (in politics, nothing past the next election really matters except in rhetoric… certainly not in planning and budgeting) and help us to understand what the future may hold for our species?
If I may be briefly partisan, I believe the libertarian mindset is a far better one to drive the future than the standard liberal or conservative views of how things should be.
Jon but not Jon Voight
December 16th, 2009
10:57 am
Wooten Jr – I get the message. “Ah those Damocrats. They can’t educate our children, dispense justice, or run a postal service. Now they can’t even run the White House.”
Big D
December 16th, 2009
10:58 am
Obama is a smart man…he’s not worried about being assassinated, any thinking man would know we would get Biden or Pelosi. OHN !!!!
sam
December 16th, 2009
11:14 am
guys, take it easy on poor old kyle. he’s doing his best. although i do agree, today’s blog is a bit lame. no offense kyle. i am a bit to the left of spectrum but i do enjoy your blog (most days)..i know the holidays are upon us but stay focused kyle .
ohmy
December 16th, 2009
11:20 am
did anyone read the whole story? at a number of points, the couple was either questioned and vetted or they themselves asked about whether they were in the right place. there was never a real security issue. they were asked to stay for the breakfast because the guy was a Naval veteran and the event was for veterans–in spite of the mix-up, they were invited to join. enough of that nonsense…bet you never thought you would have Howard Dean on your side for anything. I have said all along, if Jill Fowler was involved, the health care industry had nothing to worry about. The status quo is maintained–rejoice!
Tyler Durden
December 16th, 2009
11:24 am
Kyle would be more favorably received if he had a modicum of credibility (not unlike most of his peers on the Right end of the journalist spectrum). Reasonable debate is healthy, but when the Hannitys, Wootens, O’Reillys, Coulters, et al represent your team as objective journalists, you start off with a credibility deficit. And when you cherry pick your facts, obscure any points that don’t support (or weaken) your argument, etc, then you’re just another hack supporting ideologues with no clue.
Bring some substance and credibility to the table, hold your ground with facts, and take a few well deserved hits (all part of the game), and then we’ll take you seriously. Until then, you’re all just ‘Jeff Gannon’.
Peter
December 16th, 2009
11:27 am
Hey Kyle…… I would be interested in on which day God created Oil !
ohmy
December 16th, 2009
11:35 am
while I don’t usually agree with Kyle, I feel that he is credible–which is why today’s piece seems more like a “need to get some christmas shopping done so I’ll throw this up (pun intended) and see how it plays.” c’mon Kyle.
Robert Littel
December 16th, 2009
11:39 am
Jimmy62 – I’m with you. Considering what we are doing to the planet, by sucking out all our resources in an effort to make a small minority very rich, while they take advantage of a temporary market created by an out of control population explosion to do so, it is evident that if we keep all our eggs in this fragile basket we call Earth, we are doomed. Earth is pretty much doomed anyway due to our treating it as a host we can consume, much the way a virus does until it kills its host, or in our case, like a successful virus, we find a new host, outside the confines of our small world. Viruses mutate to increase their ability to infect a new host and we must use our best mutation to find our means for survival, our evolved intellect. I’m not sure we have reached a level of evolution that will allow us to survive our entrenched limitations ( our superstitious dependence on infantile god concepts and our ignorant complacency), but if we don’t try to overcome them, we might just end up a curious footnote in the exo-anthropological encyclopedia of an alien species that stumbles upon our ancient remains. We have the promise of greatness within us and the ability to fail to realize that greatness, if we choose the path of stupidity.
Jess
December 16th, 2009
11:45 am
Of all the things this administration is doing wrong, this ranks way down the list. Even the New York Times ran articles critizing Obama’s latest plan to spend the recovered TARP money on further stimulus plans. The articled stated that deficit borrowing to implement more economic stimulus programs will likely do more harm than good. It went on to say that had the stimulus dollars been spent on tax relief it would have had a far greater result.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2009
11:47 am
Thanks, all, for your contributions. I’ll be putting up another post shortly, but I’ll certainly keep reading what you have to say about my questions above.
Allen
December 16th, 2009
11:55 am
Kyle neglects to mention that the GA couple, like the Salahis, were subject to rigorous security screening before entering a breakfast for veterans with hundreds of people in attendance.
It’s actually traditional for White House staff to surprise visitors at random by letting them see the President make a radio address, board Air Force One, etc. This seems like a weird but not unreasonable extension of that policy, especially given that one of the Georgians was in the Navy. Normal citizens are routinely allowed to stand next to the President with less screening than they would receive on a White House visit.
Let’s keep things in context, Kyle?
Scout
December 16th, 2009
11:57 am
Mr. Wingfield:
To be honest, these types of incidents CANNOT be avoided ……… only minimized. That’s why everyone goes through security – invited guest or not. And in my opinion (read between the lines here on what I did for a career) they have been minimized as much as possible based on the access we allow to the President. Do you know that we are the only country in the world that even allows public tours of its executive mansion? Can’t have it both ways.
Intown Lib
December 16th, 2009
12:18 pm
Kyle:
Write about what interests you intellectually and readers will follow because your articles will be better.
Hillbilly Deluxe
December 16th, 2009
12:51 pm
I have a friend who was invited to White House functions a couple of times but not in recent years (Neither Obama nor Bush years). He told me that a few days before his visits, he was visited by a Secret Service for an extensive interview and background check.
Hillbilly Deluxe
December 16th, 2009
12:53 pm
That should of course read, Secret Service agent. I would also agree with Intown Lib’s 12:18 comment.
dewstarpath
December 16th, 2009
1:02 pm
Kyle, no insult intended. And you are probably right
about the interest in the 787 (although I did watch
the takeoff video online). I was talking mainly about
the posters.
dewstarpath
December 16th, 2009
1:10 pm
I also agree with Jimmy62. Mars has a whole lot of
carbon dioxide in its atmosphere (95%), and could
field clues about how that affects the atmosphere
as far as temperatures and solar radiation from space
interacting with it. The results could help research
on Earth as far as emissions are concerned.
saywhat?
December 16th, 2009
6:46 pm
Actually, Kyle, if you wrote about things like the 787, the more obnoxious posters would go away, making your blog much more readable. I would rather read a few good posts while listening to crickets than have to wade through rivers of ALL-CAPS TIRADES and 3rd grade name-calling. Does your job description say you HAVE to write about politics?
dewstarpath
December 16th, 2009
7:09 pm
saywhat? – 6:46 pm – Amen to that.