The U.S. Secret Service is an "agency in crisis," according to a new bipartisan report from a House committee, which reveals 143 previously undisclosed security breaches or attempted breaches over the past 10 years and concludes that the agency needs more manpower, more funding and a narrower mission.
"The agency's weaknesses have been exposed by a series of security failures," says the 438-page report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, citing a number of incidents, including a prostitution scandal in Colombia, a gunman firing shots at the White House, and a drunk agents interfering with a crime scene, reported Fortune.
"The Secret Service is in crisis, the situation is getting worse not better. I think the president is in jeopardy and I think he needs to personally get involved. I really do worry about his safety," committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told NBC News in an interview. "Morale is down, attrition is up, misconduct continues and security breaches persist. Strong leadership from the top is required to fix the systemic mismanagement within the agency and to restore it to its former prestige."
Among the newly revealed security breaches is one from 2014 in which a man posed as New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne Jr., walked past a distracted Secret Service agent and managed to speak with President Obama.
Five days later at a gala dinner where Obama was a guest, a woman walked backstage without being properly screened, reported People.
And then the next week, when Obama and senior adviser Valerie Jarret were staying at a Los Angeles hotel, an employee was allowed to enter the building without being screened.
An incident in 2013 involved four people fishing on a lake in the back yard of Vice President Joe Biden's Delaware home. Biden's alarm system malfunctioned, and the intruders were discovered by neighbors, who then called the Secret Service.
In spring 2014, a Czech citizen with an expired visa managed to sneak onto former President George H.W. Bush's property and hang out for an hour before being noticed.
The report says that one of the main causes of the agency's crisis is "significant cuts imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011," according to MSNBC. "Congress approved $165 million less than the combined amount" requested by President Obama for the Secret Service in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
"[T]his bipartisan report warns that Congress cannot make some of the biggest budget cuts in the history of the Secret Service and expect no repercussions to the agency's staffing and its critical mission," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking member on the Oversight Committee, said in a statement.
