Fence-Jumper at White House Ran through Main Floor: Congressman

Local Editor

The US Army veteran who breached security at the White House this month raced through several rooms on the main floor, penetrating farther into the building than previously disclosed, a US Republican congressman said on Monday.

Representative Jason Chaffetz, who chairs a House subcommittee on national security oversight, told CNN an alarm box near the front entrance had been muted, leaving interior personnel unaware of the intrusion before the suspect burst through the open front door.

"I have deep concerns that the president is not as safe as we want and need him to be," he said on CNN.

Chaffetz said his information on the wild chase through the executive mansion came from whistleblowers interviewed during his congressional investigation into the incident.

"The Secret Service has no comment on that at this time due to the ongoing investigation," Brian Leary, a spokesman for the agency, said of the Washington Post story. A White House spokesman declined comment.

The new details of the breach were first reported by the Washington Post on Monday on the eve of a hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. They differ starkly from the Secret Service's statement the day after the incident that the suspect was "physically apprehended after entering the White House North Portico doors."

The officer posted inside the door appeared to be delayed in learning the intruder was about to come through, the Washington Post reported.

It said that the suspect ran past a guard immediately inside the door, past the stairway leading up to the living quarters for US President Barack Obama and his family and into the East Room, where he was tackled at the far end of the room by an agent.

The suspect, Omar Gonzalez, a native of Texas who twice served in Iraq, was charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon.
 
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team