PD Editorial: Major breaches of security and credibility

Promises by Secret Service Director Julie Pierson to Congress Tuesday that the invasion of a knife-carrying man at the White House “will never happen again” ring hollow.

Of course it won’t happen again. This unnerving episode would be enough to alter the habits and security procedures of any American household, let alone that of the First Family.

The more urgent question is what assurance does the public have that the Secret Service will be ready for the next unanticipated intrusion or attack, perhaps one not on White House grounds?

Moreover, what is happening to alter the culture of a service that has been the center of some embarrassing news coverage including a scandal involving heavy partying and prostitutes in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena?

The president hired Pierson in March 2013 to be the first female director of the Secret Service with the intent of changing the organization’s male-dominated culture. But 18 months later, the public is left to wonder whether Pierson, who has worked for the service since 1983 and was a chief of staff before being promoted, is part of the solution or part of the cultural problem.

The issue is not just testosterone. The issue is reliability, consistency and credibility. It’s about restoring public confidence in a security force that is supposed to be among the world’s most respected, not ridiculed.

What undermines the credibility of the Secret Service this week is not just how it failed to prevent this individual from scaling the White House fence and entering the building, but how it misled the public about it afterward.

The Secret Service initially indicated that the man, Omar Gonzalez, 42, only made it a few feet inside the White House before being tackled. But as the Washington Post reported this week, the armed man made it far deeper into the mansion, making it through the entrance hall, main hall and into the East Room after overpowering a Secret Service agent inside the North Portico. Furthermore, the Post reported Tuesday the man who finally apprehended the intruder outside the Green Room was an off-duty Secret Service agent who happened to be inside the residence at the time.

Making matters worse, it appears the president and his family weren’t informed about the intrusion until days after the incident.

This is too reminiscent of the handling of other security breaches including an incident in 2011 in which a man armed with a semiautomatic weapon fired shots into the south side of the White House. The Secret Service was slow to come clean on the details of that incident as well.

The evidence mounts that secrecy is only protecting this service from more embarrassing disclosures.

The president has a reputation for standing by those around him. It’s admirable. But when it comes to ensuring the protection of his family and the reputation of the nation’s most well-known residence, Barack Obama has no choice. He needs to clean house.