Secret Service Head to be Questioned over White House Intruder | WPN World People News

The director of the U.S. Secret Service will testify before a U.S. House committee Tuesday about a major security breach at the White House earlier this month.

Julia Pierson is expected to undergo tough questioning by lawmakers over the security breach, as well as several other embarrassing incidents involving the agency, which is responsible for protecting President Barack Obama and his family.

The other incidents include a failure to immediately respond to a lone gunman who fired shots at the White House in 2011, a prostitution scandal involving agents on a presidential trip to Colombia in 2012, and a night of drinking in March that led to three agents being sent home from a presidential trip to Amsterdam.

In the most recent incident, 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez was arrested after he climbed the White House fence, ran across the lawn and into the building. The Secret Service initially said Gonzalez was arrested just inside the main entrance, but news outlets Monday said he rushed past a guard at the front door and ran down a hallway past a staircase leading to the Obama family living quarters before he was subdued.

The Secret Service also initially said Gonzalez was unarmed, but it was later revealed he was carrying a knife.

Prosecutors have said Gonzalez was stopped, but not arrested, in August, after he walked past the White House with a hatchet in his waistband. He was also arrested in July after state police found weapons in his car following a high-speed chase in nearby Virginia.

The intrusion could have been more serious if the suspect had been heavily armed and Obama and his family had been in the mansion.

Source: Voice of America