(Newswire.net — October 2, 2014) — Reportedly, the incident took place just three days before a man with a knife in his pocket climbed over the White House fence and made it into the building.
The unnamed man – identified as a private security contractor – was able to get onto the same elevator as Obama, where he then took photos and videos of the president, on September 16. The most recent security breach occured while President Obama was visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, for a briefing on the Ebola crisis.
The man disobey orders from Secret Service agents to stop what he was doing, and he was taken for questioning. The database check uncovered a criminal history peppered with multiple convictions.
The contractor was fired on the spot by his supervisor and was ordered to turn over his gun, according to the Washington Post.
“The Secret Service has had its share of challenges in recent years,” Pierson wrote in her opening
testimony prepared for Tuesday’s hearing.” I intend to lead the Secret Service through these challenges.
However, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Wednesday that he has accepted Pierson’s resignation and has already placed the former special agent Joseph Clancy in charge as acting director of the Secret Service.
“I salute her 30 years of distinguished service to the Secret Service and the Nation,” Johnson said of
the outgoing director in a statement that afternoon.
US President Barack Obama placed a phone call earlier this day with Pierson “to express her appreciation for her service to the agency and to the country.” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during a previously scheduled media briefing.
“It is worth repeating that the Secret Service is one of the finest official protection services in
the world, consisting of men and women who are highly trained and skilled professionals prepared to
put their own lives on the line in a second’s notice for the people they protect,” Homeland Security Sec. Johnson said in Wednesday’s statement.
“Last week, the Secret Service was responsible for the protection of the President as well as 140 visiting heads of state or government as they convened at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Likewise, in August the Secret Service handled the protection of 60 world leaders as they convened in Washington, DC for the African Summit. As usual, the Secret Service executed these highly complex and demanding assignments without incident. There is no other protection service in the world that could have done this.” said Johnson.
However, what seems particularly surprising is that the Secret Service was apparently unaware of the man being in possession of a gun the entire time he was inches away from Obama.