The recent spate of White House fence jumpers disclosed by the U.S. Secret Service were apparently just a fraction of the total number of people who breached barriers to enter the White House over the past five years, The Washington Examiner reported. Most of them, however, involved breaches of lower barriers rather than the main fence.
In the fiscal years 2009 through 2014, a total of 40 people illegally crossed into restricted areas outside the White House complex, according to the agency's thorough account to Congress, which included documents highlighting the difficulty of protecting the White House from mentally ill individuals.
That's more than twice as many as ex-Secret Service Director Julia Pierson intimated in testimony before Congress in late September, according to The Inquisitr.
"In addition to fence-jumpers, over the last five years hundreds of individuals have approached the White House perimeter, verbalizing threats to our protectees or acting in a suspicious manner," she testified. "Officers and agents routinely leverage their experience and training to make decisions to either arrest or transfer these individuals to appropriate facilities for mental health evaluations."
Of the 40 barrier-jumping incidents, 10 separate instances involved individuals hopping the permanent security fencing surrounding the White House complex in order to gain access to restricted areas without authorization, acting Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a letter on Friday.
Another 30 involved people who bypassed temporary, lower types of fencing known as "bike racks," movable metal barricades or police tape surrounding the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the New Executive Office Building or the U.S. Treasury Department building and surrounding space, the UK MailOnline reported.
Then this year, four incidents were reported, including Omar Gonzales, who made it into the ceremonial heart of the White House before agents wrestled him to the ground in September, according to The Examiner.
Of all the suspects captured, a majority of the people were confirmed to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, several others claimed to be taking a shortcut to the D.C. Metro while a handful of others were travelers who were apparently oblivious to the laws, the Secret Service said, adding that only two of them were arrested.
However, the report obtained by the Washington Examiner and released on Monday night calls into question how former Secret Service Director Pierson evaluated the incidents and why she considered only 16 fence-jumpers while failing to mention or acknowledge any others who violated the White House perimeter.
