The recent security breaches at the White House in Washington DC have many questioning the Secret Service and in particular the reaction of the Service to the person who jumped the fence.
The Secret Service has a very difficult and complex job to do, but let us isolate their role at the White House which among many others is to protect the President and the infrastructure.
Anyone jumping the fence at the White House and entering the grounds will take 15 to 20 seconds to reach the doors of the facility, in that time the Security staff will have to make a threat assessment and react to stop the intruder. In the recent cases it was apparent that the security staff made the right assessment to not use deadly force after weighing up all the available information.
Although it is right to ask questions of the Secret Service procedures following any attempt at breaching security, it is disingenuous and unproductive to lambaste them with irresponsible comments.
The Secret Service has been at the job of protecting the President of the United States for decades, and yes there have been incidents where individuals have managed to breach the ring of security surrounding the President, but we must remember they are well trained and in responding to a threat perceived or real, have to be measured, and not cause more harm to those they are detailed to protect and/or the general public.
If in the recent cases the Secret Service had used their weapons to fire at the suspects entering the White House grounds there was, and will always be the possibility that some of the rounds they discharge might strike members of the public in the line of fire. We as citizens must laud the Secret Service for not over-reacting and firing their weapons indiscriminately to stop what has proven to be individuals who did not pose any grave danger to the staff or facility, and, be assured that there is always an after incident reporting and assessment process to determine system failures and procedural changes to further enhance the security and mitigate risks.
Perhaps as the exercise to assess the latest incidents is carried out some thought might be given to raising the level of security at the White House by employing a secondary fence, electrified above six feet, within the grounds of the White House. This fence would have the ability to slow down and stop with deadly force, any ingress beyond the first fence. This will provide the security staff with some time to react to any potential “fence jumpers.” The first fence will have all the detection devices and the second fence would provide the deadly force.
Clearly this suggestion is one that is costly, and in fact no system is infallible, but, providing more time for threat assessment and response, can only be a good thing for our nation’s peace of mind.