Imagine the shock and awe when I found out my home was more secure than the White House, which along with the U.S. Capitol, is home to the leaders of the free world.
Why? Because I lock my doors, which means my access control is 100 percent in place. A simple thing, but because access control is the starting point for all security – doors have to be locked.
We say that security should be re-assessed whenever there’s a major change. And certainly launching a war against ISIL might be considered a major change, especially since there is an alert about home grown jihadists. Do you think the home of the U.S. president might become a target?
And who is responsible for the lax security? It’s the Secret Service, the government agents who are supposed to be totally dedicated to the best security on the planet.
Other things went wrong too. Another reason why my home was safer than the White House last week is because I have dogs on site and they are unleashed. I don’t make the decision about whether to let the dogs out. Instead, my vicious attack beagles go after anyone trying to enter the grounds at any point within the perimeter fence. Although dogs are kept on site at the White House for just this sort of incident, they were not released because the Secret Service agents thought the dogs might go after them.
The sniper who was at the White House with his gun trained on the intruder didn’t shoot. He could have taken a shot to the intruder’s arm or to his leg, and that would have slowed him down, but instead, he held his fire and the intruder made it in the doors and up
the stairs of the White House.
The intruder was also a repeat offender. He should have had a big red mark on his forehead indicating that he was not cleared for access, but he was able to jump the fence and continue right along through the entrance.
The lovely decorative White House fence was easily breached, just jumped over. Does this trigger a brainstorm: Make the fence higher or, even better, alarm and electrify it.
At my barn, it took about $200 and less than two hours to totally electrify an enormous field. Shouldn’t the president’s home be as well protected and my horse’s field?
Looking at the whole picture, we see that there are numerous problems, and that obviously the White House hasn’t had a decent security risk assessment in years or that the assessment’s recommendations weren’t implemented.
With lots of high value targets in a relatively small area, the use of automated, quarterly security risk assessments should be a no brainer.
What’s the underlying cause of this breach? Was it the lack of procedures? Were procedures not followed? Was it lack of training? Was it a sub-plot or was it the just a cascade of failures?
Whatever it was, it made the U.S. look unprepared to the entire world, and it reinforces the message that security is a process that has to be continually assessed and re-assessed.
I’m going to do my patriotic duty and donate my automated risk assessment software to the Secret Service agents at the White House to help them in this critical task!
