A person who climbed and jumped the White House fence was arrested late on Sunday night by secret service agents, quickly ending the latest intrusion following a series of embarrassing incidents for the agency.
In a statement, the service said the intruder “was immediately arrested” after climbing the fence at about 10.25pm. The unidentified person was taken into custody to await charges, the statement continued.
The service also said the person was carrying a suspicious package while trying to scale the 8ft fence facing the National Mall. The package was found to be harmless, secret service spokesman Brian Leary told CNN.
Recent security lapses have humiliated the agency, drawn scrutiny and criticism from lawmakers and caused President Barack Obama to shuffle the service’s leadership. On 19 September, a man with a knife jumped the White House fence in broad daylight and sprinted across the lawn and into the executive mansion, apparently looking for Obama. That intrusion was the sixth time someone had jumped the fence in 2014, the service told the Associated Press, and the 16th time in five years.
In April, the National Parks Service proposed adding steel spikes to the fence, as a temporary adjustment while a new fence was built.
After the September incident, secret service director Julia Pierson resigned and Obama appointed veteran agent Joseph Clancy to reform the agency. An independent report found that agents were generally overtaxed, demoralized and “starved for leadership”. Clancy has admitted that the service has a problem with agents who drink too much.
In March, two senior agents, apparently intoxicated, nudged a government SUV into a White House barricade. In recent years, agents have been found passed out in a hotel hallway and cavorting with Colombian prostitutes.
Most recently, the secret service has been criticized for not having stopped a Florida man from landing a gyrocopter directly on the lawn of the US Capitol, as part of a protest against the influence of money in politics.
Agents had interviewed the pilot in October 2013 and shared information with Capitol police, who more directly have jurisdiction over the Capitol grounds. The Tampa Bay Times said it called the service shortly after the pilot set out for Washington last Wednesday.
