Julia Pierson, head of the United States Secret Service – the agency whose role is to protect the President of the United States, its dignitaries and visiting foreign officials – will be questioned by the US House Committee over a major security breach that has allowed a person to almost reach the presidential living quarters before being subdued.
This is just the latest of a series of incidents quite embarrassing for the agency with the important task to protect the President. Pierson is expected to answer some really uncomfortable questions about a similar incident that happened in 2011, as well as a series of others.
Embarrassing incidents
The Secret Service was involved in a series of incidents that have gone public even before Pierson has taken the lead. The list includes a night of drinking during a presidential visit to Amsterdam, leading to three agents being sent home before its end, a prostitution scandal involving agents during a presidential visit to Colombia, and a lone gunman firing shots on the White House in 2011.
Julia Pierson was appointed as the chief executive of the Agency in 2013, being the first woman to occupy this post, in order to improve its image.
Omar Gonzalez
The latest security incident happened just a few days ago, when 42 year old Omar Gonzalez has climbed the fence of the best protected public building of the US – the White House that is -, ran across the lawn, into the building, and almost reached the living quarters of the Obama family before the agents of the USSS have managed to subdue him. Although it was initially said that Gonzalez was unarmed, it was later revealed that he was carrying a knife. This is not the first time he was caught – in August he was stopped (not arrested, though) after walking past the White House with a hatchet in his waistband.
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A heavily armed person doing the same could have caused serious damage, especially if the President and his family would have been in the mansion. This latest incident is the last drop that triggered a series of hearings and reports, possibly costing Pierson her job (or at least her reputation).