Patterico's Pontifications

9/20/2014

Rep. Chaffetz: Just Close The Damn Doors!

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:30 am



[guest post by Dana]

Well, if the White House can be breached, then all bets are off regarding our southern border:

An intruder made it through the front door of the White House after scaling the mansion’s fence before Secret Service agents apprehended him. The first family was not in the residence.

…

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security, called the incident “totally unacceptable” and said it was just one of a string of security failings on the Secret Service’s watch.

“Unfortunately, they are failing to do their job,” said Chaffetz, R-Utah. “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.

The president and family were not in residence at the time of the break-in.

In another incident of making it through an open door, Chaffetz stated earlier this week that four people suspected of having ties to terrorists were apprehended at the southern border on September 10. Unsurprisingly, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson played dumb:

Johnson was testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, on which Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, sits. When asked by Chaffetz whether he was aware of any incidents of terrorists or suspected terrorists crossing the border from Mexico, Johnson replied, “Sitting here right now, no specific case comes to mind.”

Chaffetz then mentioned the case of the four who were apprehended just one week ago.

“I’ve heard reports to that effect,” Johnson replied. “I don’t know the accuracy of the reports or how much credence to give them.”

And, further confirming why Americans are justifiably scornful regarding this administration’s claims of a secured border:

“I don’t know which one scares me more,” Chaffetz said. “Does he not know? Is he oblivious to it as the Homeland Security secretary? Or is he going to be deceptive and just try to run out the clock and not really answer the question?

“I asked him, ‘What is the operational control right now on the border?'” Chaffetz said. “And he said, ‘I don’t know.'”

–Dana

31 Responses to “Rep. Chaffetz: Just Close The Damn Doors!”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (4dbf62) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:31 am

  2. Weigel wrote a breathless article at Slate about how the border security issues like the one above are mythical and right wing hysteria.

    JD (e261ac) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:34 am

  3. Yes, JD, right up there with winged horses and unicorns.

    Dana (4dbf62) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:36 am

  4. Richard Grenell @RichardGrenell
    To be fair, the guy who made it over the fence at the White House should be able to live there now….with his family. #Undocumented

    Kyle @kyleraccio
    .@RichardGrenell @NolteNC I hope they didn’t ask for his ID! lol

    JD (e261ac) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:38 am

  5. Two points:

    The Secret Service identified the suspect as Omar J. Gonzalez, a 42-year-old man from Copperas Cove, Texas. He was charged with unlawful entry into the White House complex and transported to a nearby hospital complaining of chest pain. Attempts to reach Gonzalez or his relatives by phone were unsuccessful.

    And, apparently post-Secret Service/Cartagena prostitution scandal, the president hired a woman to head the agency. And that decision carries an undeniable scent of sexism rather than hiring the most qualified individual:

    Obama appointed the agency’s first female director last year as a sign he wanted to change the culture and restore public confidence in its operations. An inspector general’s report in December found no evidence of widespread misconduct.

    Dana (4dbf62) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:46 am

  6. Isn’t it amazing that every time the Obama admin investigates itself they never find a smidgen of corruption?

    JD (eaba8c) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:59 am

  7. The Administration has their TOP PEOPLE monitoring this terror threat. TOP PEOPLE!

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/09/dem-rep-40-isis-fighters-have-returned-to-the-us-video/

    daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/20/2014 @ 11:21 am

  8. What irony. So the guy who broke through the fence was of Latino descent, perhaps even with direct familial ties to Mexico?

    America in today’s era is becoming like one big piece of bad fiction, perhaps a cautionary tale of what happens when liberal biases get the better of a populace.

    I recall once believing that enough people in this nation had enough good sense to avoid ever setting themselves up for the banana-republic type of situation described below. But I should have known that human nature transcends boundaries, including those of a France, Argentina, Greece, Mexico, Venezuela, etc.

    “Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed.” ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

    Mark (c160ec) — 9/20/2014 @ 11:40 am

  9. the secret service is an incompetent bunch of losers what are primarily focused on banging third world hookers

    good men and women my ass

    happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/20/2014 @ 11:44 am

  10. Why not take his 14 SUVs and surround the White House with them?

    Patricia (5fc097) — 9/20/2014 @ 11:46 am

  11. You say that like banging third world hookers is a bad thing Mr. feets.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/20/2014 @ 12:37 pm

  12. The prostitution scandal was indicative of a great deal of ruin in the agency’s institutional culture. The President was on a foreign trip and some of the perpetrators were men in their late 40s. That the inspector-general found nothing indicates the inspector-general was told not to look for anything. See Fr. Paul Shaughnessy, SJ on ‘sociological corruption’. It infects elements of the permanent government generally and the Obama Administration in particular. You may not have to fire that many people, but you have to cut out the cancer so the institutional response of agencies to bad behavior is to punish and expel malefactors, not attend to public relations.

    Art Deco (ee8de5) — 9/20/2014 @ 12:58 pm

  13. On a serious note, who are these people, four is enough to make a cell.

    narciso (ee1f88) — 9/20/2014 @ 1:05 pm

  14. banging third world hookers is dirty

    happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/20/2014 @ 1:12 pm

  15. mr. feets I bow to your experience but people have needs and third world hookers gotta eat.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/20/2014 @ 1:13 pm

  16. Yeah, about those four and their possible terrorist connections:

    According to the document from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Intelligence and Investigative Liaison, of the 474 aliens, 76 are from terrorism-linked nations located in and around the jihadist Islamic State’s area of operation — Turkey (41), Saudi Arabia (13), Syria (7), Jordan (7), Iraq (4),Iran (3), and J Kuwait (1).

    The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, controls areas inside Syria and Iraq, both countries are bordered by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait and Jordan.

    Illegals from terrorism-linked countries apprehended by Border Patrol agents are referred to as Special Interest Aliens (SIAs) in the CBP intelligence document.

    …

    Among the 474 SIAs apprehended so far in 2014 alone are 34 from countries identified in the CNN report, including: Somalia (4), Turkmenistan (1), Uzbekistan (10), Egypt (13), Tunisia (1), and Lebanon (5).

    The CBP intelligence document contains SIA arrest figures from the beginning of fiscal 2009 through July 20, 2014.

    During that period, nearly 3,000 SIAs were apprehended by border agents for trying to sneak into the U.S. illegally.

    Among the 474 special interest aliens arrested in 2014 are individuals from Pakistan (28), Yemen (4), and Afghanistan (2). Most, 266, are from Bangladesh.

    This further shames Jeh Johnson’s claimed lack of knowledge or surety of the breach by the four. Clearly, such events are well documented. Either he’s lying or grossly incompetent. Or both.

    Dana (4dbf62) — 9/20/2014 @ 1:25 pm

  17. Basically there is no part of the Federal government that Obama has not turned into a corrupt, partisan, inept and incompetent reflection of himself.

    SPQR (c4e119) — 9/20/2014 @ 2:04 pm

  18. the United States of John Koskinen

    happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/20/2014 @ 2:19 pm

  19. apparently, securing the border is a violation of their duty

    ya gotta love the Demonrats: at least they are consistent.

    redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/20/2014 @ 2:35 pm

  20. Was Jeh Johnson “playing”,
    or is he as disconnected/disinterested in the day-to-day details of his job as his boss?

    askeptic (efcf22) — 9/20/2014 @ 3:06 pm

  21. “the secret service is an incompetent bunch of losers what are primarily focused on banging third world hookers”

    Something tells me if they were going the gay way they’d be aces in your book, feets.

    Colonel Haiku (86020d) — 9/20/2014 @ 6:17 pm

  22. Jeh “Meh” Johnson is the Third Stooge, Holder and Obama the other Two. A continuing criminal enterprise.

    Colonel Haiku (86020d) — 9/20/2014 @ 6:20 pm

  23. if they were going the gay way they’d be the CIA you big silly

    happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/20/2014 @ 6:28 pm

  24. I’m glad my computer screen needed cleaning feets!

    Bruxanne (0fd691) — 9/20/2014 @ 10:21 pm

  25. I think President Barack Obama once got locked out of the White House so now he doesn’t lockthe front door when he leaves.

    This is OK because there’s so much other protection of the building, and it is was a secret.

    When the president is not there, it is just another important federal office building, so the security was lower.

    They handled it right, but perhaps he needs a moat torus-like swimming pool.

    Sammy Finkelman (cb098f) — 9/21/2014 @ 9:34 am

  26. The president and family were not in residence at the time of the break-in.

    I presume the girls were in school, the missus was out charging something extravagant on the taxpayer’s credit card and…well, we know what he was doing.

    And in this state of affairs, one can only presume that the Secret Service couldn’t be bothered to leave their booze and hookers to, you know, take their stations or something.

    Sheesh…

    J.P. (cc46f4) — 9/21/2014 @ 9:39 am

  27. They were at Camp David.

    Sammy Finkelman (cb098f) — 9/21/2014 @ 9:47 am

  28. Jake Tapper tweets:

    Army: WH gate jumper Omar Gonzalez was on active duty from 1997 to 2012, served in Iraq from Oct 2006 to Jan 2008. He was a cavalry scout.

    Dana (4dbf62) — 9/21/2014 @ 10:15 am

  29. So, Gonzalez had a knife.
    Why do people still insist on bringing a knife to a gunfight?

    askeptic (efcf22) — 9/21/2014 @ 11:52 am

  30. This was the 3rd time Gonzalez was caught.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/white-house-intruder-was-arrested-in-july-with-trove-of-weapons.html

    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 he had been arrested this summer in Virginia with a mini-arsenal of semiautomatic weapons, a sniper rifle and a map clearly marking the White House’s location.

    This time, if he intended anything big, the fence stopped him – don’t knock the value of fence somebody can climb over! – and he left most of his weapons in his car:

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

    Ammunition, but no guns?

    His ex-wife claims he suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome:

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-wife-white-house-intruder-omar-gonzalez-says-he-needs-n209176

    She says there was some kind of a terrible incident that happened in his second tour of duty in Iraq, (she never knew what it was, but he said it involved little children) and she is sure he didn’t go to the White House to hurt Obama.

    http://www.wthr.com/story/26595130/2014/09/22/white-house-fence-jumper-has-indiana-connection

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 9/23/2014 @ 10:38 am

  31. Obama and one of his daughters had left only four minutes before, says one comment.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 9/23/2014 @ 10:39 am


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