'They are failing to do their jobs': Secret Service under fire as video reveals just how easily intruder made it INSIDE the White House moments after President Obama left with his daughters
- President Obama had left the White House only minutes before
- Reports say man charged towards north portico and was tackled
- Alleged assailant named as Texan Omar J. Gonzalez, 42
- Secret Services say they found no weapons on Gonzalez
- Parts of the White House were evacuated in the chaos
- Evacuation has now ended after around half an hour
Just how easy is easy to get into the White House nowadays? Apparently, it's as simple as jumping the fence.
The Secret Service is under intense scrutiny after an intruder simply hopped a security fence at the White House, sparking an evacuation — and outrageously made it inside the Executive Mansion before being tackled by federal agents.
Parts of the White House were evacuated after the intruder was spotted charging toward the northern entrance over a lawn, minutes after Barack Obama and his family left by helicopter.
The Secret Service said it was holding Omar J. Gonzalez, a 42-year-old Texan from Copperas Cove, in connection with the attempt.
President Barack Obama and his daughters had just departed the White House when the incident broke out.
For the Secret Service, the breach was a devastating episode that prompted fresh questions about the storied agency and its ability to protect the president.
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Easy as pie: An intruder (left) simply hopped the White House fence and somehow made it all the way to the Executive Mansion before the Secret Service was able to stop him. A security guard (right) watched incredulously as the man ran in from the street to President Obama's home
The Republican Party's Jason Chaffetz, who chairs the House of Representatives' subpanel on national security oversight, called it 'totally unacceptable' but said the incident was just one of a string of security failings on the Secret Service's watch.
'Unfortunately, they are failing to do their job,' Chaffetz said. 'These are good men and women, but the Secret Service leadership has a lot of questions to answer.'
'Was the door open?' he added incredulously.
Although it's not uncommon for people to make it over the White House fence, they're typically stopped almost immediately and rarely get very far.
Video from the scene showed the intruder sprinting across the lawn as Secret Service agents shouted at nearby pedestrians to clear the area.
'This situation was a little different than other incidents we have at the White House,' Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said.
Agency officials said there will be a 'thorough investigation' into the breach.
Uniformed Secret Service officers walk Saturday along the fence that an intruder hopped to get into the White House a day earlier
Uniformed Secret Service officers do a security sweep along the lawn on the North side of the White House on Saturday
Evacuation: A Secret Service guard gives directions during the White House evacuation
Guns at the ready: An armed Secret Service guard stands in front of a fence with an automatic rifle
A spokesman said that Gonzalez was moved to a Washington hospital after complaining of medical complications.
A Secret Service spokesman said no weapons were found on him, nor did officers initially think he was armed.
Witnesses told how a man clambered over the protective perimeter, prompting officers to run toward the building and call for people to be evacuated.
It was not previously clear how far the frantic dash had taken him — but the Secret Service today revealed he made it through the north portico doors and was apprehended just inside.
Response: Flashing lights could be seen gathered in front of the South Portico of the building tonight
Leaving: Members of the media were herded out of the White House after the intruder approached
Flying away: Obama, his daughter Sasha (second left) and an unidentified friend (left) were pictured heading to the Presidential retreat at Camp David
WHITE HOUSE SECURITY BREACHES OVER THE YEARS
Experts say Friday's breach was the first time in recent memory that an intruder actually made it inside the White House after hopping the fence. The attempts, however, have been many:
Sept. 11: A 'Pokemon' nut wearing a bright-yellow Pikachu hat was caught walking down the North Lawn seconds after jumping. His motives remain unclear.
Aug. 7: A presidential address on Iraq was postponed — and the whole place put on lockdown — after a toddler squeezed through the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue, making it onto the lawn.
June 2013: Joseph Reel, of Ohio, crashed a driverless Jeep into the fence to create a distraction so he could enter and spray paint the White House. He was sentenced to 3 years behind bars.
November 2009: Three people crashed a state dinner for Indian Premier Manmohan Singh. They somehow made it past several security checkpoints and even met President Obama.
2001-2009: Six people jumped the fence — but were all caught almost immediately after landing on the grass. One of them, Brian Patterson, was on his third attempt when he was caught in April 2006
'This incident is the most shocking example yet of how dangerously lax the Secret Service has become, failing at its most basic job — to protect the president and first family in the White House,' said Washington insider Ronald Kessler, who's written several books on the Secret Service.
He added to MailOnline: 'Because of corner cutting and an ingrained cultural attitude by management of "we make do with less," the Secret Service is not protecting the White House with adequate agents and uniformed officers and is not keeping up to date with the latest devices for detecting intruders and weapons of mass destruction'
Kessler — who revealed the embarrassing scandal about Secret Service agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia — said it's 'arrogance' that the White House doesn't even have a front door lock.
'If the intruder were carrying chemical, biological or radiological weapons and President Obama and his family had been in, we would have had a dead president as well as a dead first family,' said Kessler, who authored 'The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.'
Footage of the would-be assailant showed a short-haired male in jeans and a black t-shirt charging towards the White House.
He is seen about halfway across the northern lawn of the building, then again seconds later level with a row of bushes just short of the portico's marble colonnade.
The short video, filmed on a mobile phone, cuts out when security guards usher the cameraman away.
Speaking to ABC News, Brandon Pawlinski, who shot the film, said: 'This dude just jumped the fence right in front of me. He made it pretty far; [I] didn't see them catch him.'
Obama and members of his family were pictured earlier leaving the White House on a helicopter.
He was travelling with his two daughters and one of their friends to the Presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland.
Moments before: The intruder charged just minutes after Obama, pictured right with his daughter Malia, left the White House
No entry: A Secret Service officer stands guard outside the White House during the evacuation
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