WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A decorated Iraq war veteran who scaled a fence on Friday night and got into the White House had more than 800 rounds of ammunition in his car and had been arrested in July with a sniper rifle and a map on which the executive mansion was marked, a federal prosecutor said yesterday.
An internal review of the United States Secret Service will examine how Omar Gonzalez, 42, made it into the White House before being stopped, his previous interactions with the Secret Service, and what must be done to prevent future security breaches.
The Secret Service is charged with safeguarding the leaders of the United States and visiting heads of state and government, and with protecting the country’s economy by watching over its financial infrastructure and payment systems.
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, who ordered the review, has been asked to testify about Friday’s security breach before a House of Representatives’ oversight committee hearing scheduled for September 30.
The agency is considering ways to expand the security zone around the White House to keep the public farther away and to do more screening of people in the area.
Friday’s incident is the latest in a string of lapses involving the Secret Service, including a prostitution scandal in 2012.
“These significant security breaches reveal our weaknesses as well as our response capabilities to our nation’s enemies,” Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman of the committee, said in a statement.
Obama and his family had left the White House for a weekend at Camp David when Gonzalez climbed the fence and ran across the north lawn of the complex in full view of tourists on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Asked yesterday whether he has confidence in the agency, President Barack Obama said, “Secret Service does a great job, and I’m grateful for the sacrifices they make on my behalf and my family’s behalf.”
Gonzalez, who retired from the Army on disability in 2012, had been living in Texas.
In July, he was arrested by Virginia State Police for reckless driving, eluding police and possessing a sawed-off shotgun. Police inventoried 11 guns in the vehicle including shotguns, handguns, and sniper rifles, and a map of Washington, DC, police records showed. Gonzalez was released on bond after the arrest.
