Intruder's Past Raises Concern at White House

Washington: Secret Service officers stopped Omar Jose Gonzalez last month as he carried a hatchet in front of the White House, but let him go even though the Iraq War veteran had been arrested earlier this summer in Virginia with a mini-arsenal of semiautomatic weapons, a sniper rifle and a map clearly marking the White House's location.

Prosecutors on Monday also revealed that Gonzalez, 42, who on Friday scaled an iron fence and made his way through the front door of the White House before he was tackled and apprehended, had 800 rounds of ammunition, two hatchets and a machete in his car when law enforcement officers searched it after Friday's incident.

A judge on Monday agreed to a request by the prosecutors that Gonzalez, 42, who is from Copperas Cove, Texas, and believed to have been living out of his car, remain in custody until a hearing next month because he posed a danger to President Barack Obama.

The disclosures raised further questions about whether the Secret Service, which has the responsibility for protecting the president, could have prevented the breach into one of the most secure facilities in the country. The agency also came under fire Monday from critics who said its agents should have used lethal force to stop Gonzalez as he sprinted toward the White House.

Julia A. Pierson, director of the Secret Service, said in an interview that she had ordered a "full fact-finding investigation into what didn't work, where mistakes were made and how to ensure we prevent it in the future." She said Gonzalez's ability to penetrate the perimeter around the White House was "unacceptable" to her and had prompted a review of whether to change security procedures for tourists and others in the area.

But she also strongly defended the 6,500-employee agency, saying repeatedly that news media attention on the handful of mistakes the agency makes obscures the complex, difficult work that agents and officers do.

"It's frustrating," Pierson said in a 15-minute interview from New York City, where she was directing the agency's protection of 140 world leaders attending the U.N. General Assembly.

She added, "I don't think the average American realizes the amount of work and complexity that goes into securing these events."

Speaking to reporters at the White House, the president also defended the agency. "The Secret Service does a great job," Obama said. "I'm grateful for all the sacrifices they make on my behalf and on my family's behalf."

In her job for about 18 months, Pierson was supposed to be the one to fix the agency's reputation, which had been tarnished after a dozen agents were fired for having prostitutes in their hotel rooms during a presidential trip to Colombia in 2012.

In March, however, two Secret Service agents were sent home from Amsterdam after one of them got so drunk that he could not get into his hotel room and passed out in a hallway. That incident once again raised questions about the agency's culture and forced Pierson to implement new policies to curb drinking. And the episode Friday on the front lawn of the White House - along with the reports of Gonzalez's previous interactions with the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies - has raised more serious questions.

"I worry about her whole approach," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of a subcommittee that Monday scheduled a hearing on the incident for next week. "I do question the director's leadership. This is a place where we can never, ever make a mistake."

On Friday, officials said that officers guarding the White House had not perceived Gonzalez as a threat because he was not obviously carrying a backpack or other bag that could contain explosives. After he was detained, Gonzalez was determined to be unarmed except for a small, folding pocketknife.

Pierson said the Secret Service came into contact with roughly 60 people a year outside the White House, like fence jumpers, who appeared to be threats to the president. She said Gonzalez seemed like other people who try to get into the White House or close to Obama, many of whom exhibit symptoms of mental illness. Under questioning, Gonzalez told officers that he needed to deliver a message to the president about the atmosphere failing.

"To be quite honest with you all, the vast majority of the people we come into contact with exhibit signs of mental illness," she said.

But the picture that emerged during Monday's court hearing was a darker one, and it suggested that Secret Service officials had failed to follow standard procedures that might have alerted them to the possibility that Gonzalez posed a serious threat.

Under normal Secret Service procedures, the officers who stopped Gonzalez last month should have checked with agency officials whether databases showed him as having an arrest record or having made threats against the president or the White House. If the databases revealed that he had a violent history, the officers should have conducted a formal interview with Gonzalez at a small office the agency has near the White House or at its Washington field office.

A Secret Service spokesman declined to comment on how the agency had handled the incident because of the ongoing investigation. But, he said that as part of the agency's investigation, officials would be "reviewing Gonzalez's criminal history and contacts with Secret Service personnel."

Gonzalez had contact with law enforcement in July, when he was arrested in Virginia after leading troopers on a high-speed pursuit on Interstate 81. After being stopped, the police found his Ford Bronco filled with weapons, according to documents released by the Virginia State Police.

Among the items found in the vehicle in July were 11 guns, including two shotguns and four rifles, some equipped with scopes; and "a map of Washington, D.C., with writing and a line drawn to the White House," law enforcement officials said. He also had five handguns, three of them loaded.

Virginia State Police said they took possession of the weapons after Gonzalez was in custody. Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the state police, said her agency alerted the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms about Gonzalez's arrest. A law enforcement official said the weapons were "stored by police so they wouldn't be sitting in the vehicle unsecured."

Virginia officials said Gonzalez was charged with reckless driving, one felony count of eluding police and possession of a sawed-off shotgun. He was released after posting a bond.

Last month, Secret Service officers stopped Gonzalez in front of the fence on the White House's South Lawn after they noticed a hatchet in his waistband, the officials said. The officers searched Gonzalez's car, finding two dogs and camping equipment but no weapons.

He was not arrested or questioned further.