New developments in the White House fence-jumping case show details of multiple "performance" and "technical" failures on behalf of Secret Service agents in charge of guarding the White House.
The Department of Homeland Security released a nine-page document that detailed performance failures of some of the agents, including one agent that was caught ignoring his two-way radio and talking on a cell-phone.
"This is a harsh report."
The Secret Service officer in question on his cellphone was a Canine Officer technician stationed in his van, according to the report.
When Omar Gonzalez hopped the fence, the officer in question was on a call on his personal cellphone on speaker without his earpiece and his two-way radio to be alerted of potential breaches.
The report tried to downplay the officer's errors, however, when it stated that his vehicle wasn't equipped with anything that would alert him to any dangers:
"The Canine Officer was alerted to the incident when he saw a Uniformed Division Officer running east outside on the North Fence. He then scanned the area and saw Gonzalez running toward the bushes. The Canine Officer did not hear any radio traffic announcing that there was a fence jumper, and his vehicle was not equipped with monitors or speakers that could have alerted him to the alarm breaches, the activation of the emergency communication system, or the elevation of the White House internal alert system."
One Homeland Security official who asked to remain anonymous said in an interview with NBC News that the findings in the report were pretty harsh, but necessary in order to bring light to the incident.
"This is a harsh report," said one Homeland Security official, "but it is intended to help fix the problems that this incident made very apparent."
Even though the officer admitted that he saw Gonzalez run toward the bushes, he still tried to cover up his actions by saying that his vehicle was not equipped for the situation.
The people in charge of our nation's security may have some explaining to do after the revelations in this report.
