http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=8E5F8289-ADA0-4D68-81A3-E3EF466142F3 Darrell Issa hits Secret Service protection
By: Kendall Breitman
September 30, 2014 06:12 AM EDT
Ahead of his hearing Tuesday on the White House fence-jumper, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says he’s “extremely concerned” about the Secret Service failure to secure the White House.
“Most organizations have acceptable losses, in other words they’re right 97 percent of the time. In the case of the Secret Service, they have to succeed 100 percent of the time,” Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on NBC’s “Nightly News” on Monday. “I’m extremely concerned.”
On Tuesday, Julia Pierson, the director of the Secret Service, will testify before the committee to address growing concerns around the agency’s handling of security at the White House.
The Washington Post published an article examining an incident in 2011 in which it took agents four days to learn that gunshots had hit the White House. On Monday, the Post reported that a man who jumped the fence of the White House was able to make it all the way into the East Room before he was tackled by an agent.
“It’s clear that something needs to be done, and something needs to be done drastically,” said ranking committee member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). “It’s also clear that they need to have a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said on Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the recent events have caused him to worry about the agency’s effectiveness.
“I worry about leadership, I worry about protocol and I worry about training,” Chaffetz said. “This projection of weakness, I’m afraid, is going to invite more attacks.”
