This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/world/asia/white-house-drone.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Government Employee Crashes Small Drone at White House A Threat Too Small for Radar Rattles the White House
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — The small drone that crashed into a tree on the South Lawn of the White House early Monday morning was operated by a government employee who has told the Secret Service that he did not mean to fly it over the White House fence or near the president’s residence, according to law enforcement officials. WASHINGTON — A White House radar system designed to detect flying objects like planes, missiles and large drones failed to pick up a small drone that crashed into a tree on the South Lawn early Monday morning, according to law enforcement officials. The crash raised questions about whether the Secret Service could bring down a similar object if it endangered President Obama.
The employee — who does not work for the White House — has told the Secret Service that he was flying the drone for recreational use at about 3 a.m. in the area around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when he lost control of it. The drone, which was about two feet in diameter and weighed about two pounds, was operated by a government employee whom the Secret Service did not identify. The agency said the employee was flying the object near the White House around 3 a.m. for recreational purposes when he lost control of it. Officials did not explain why the man, who does not work at the White House and who has not been charged with a crime, was flying the drone at that hour.
So far, the Secret Service said it believed the man’s account. The crash was the latest security breach showing the difficulties the Secret Service has had protecting the White House in recent years. In September, a man with a knife climbed over the White House fence and made it deep inside the building before officers tackled him. In 2011, a gunman fired shots that hit the White House while one of the Obama daughters was home.
In a second statement about the incident Monday afternoon, the Secret Service said an individual had called them at about 9:30 Monday morning to report that he had been the one controlling the drone when it crashed on the White House grounds. On Monday, a Secret Service officer who was posted on the south grounds of the White House “heard and observed” the drone, the agency said, but the officer and others stationed at the residence were unable to bring it down before it passed over the White House fence and struck a tree. The drone was too small and flying too low to be detected by radar, officials said, adding that because of its size, it could easily have been confused for a large bird.
“The individual has been interviewed by Secret Service agents and been fully cooperative. Initial indications are that this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device,” the statement said. The incident comes just days after the Department of Homeland Security held a conference in Arlington, Va., on the dangers that such drones pose to the nation’s critical infrastructure and government facilities. On display at the meeting was a DJI Phantom drone — the same type of drone that crashed at the White House on Monday. But the drone on display had three pounds of fake explosives attached to the payload as part of an effort to show how easily it could be used to launch an attack, according to a participant at the conference.
The Secret Service also released a photo of the partially broken drone on the ground. It appears to be a version of the DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter that is sold on Amazon.com starting at $448. Models equipped with HD cameras sell for as much as $1,258 on the website. A counterterrorism official at the meeting warned that small drones could also be used to launch chemical and biological attacks, according to Daniel Herbert, who attended the conference.
The small, commercial quad copter drone crashed on the southeast grounds, forcing a brief lockdown of the White House complex, the Secret Service said. Mr. Herbert, who runs an online business that repairs drones and trains people to operate them, said that with the National Counterterrorism Center told participants at the meeting that the drones present a serious threat to the nation’s infrastructure, and that the DJI Phantom is the terrorist’s drone of choice.
Officials said in a statement that a Secret Service officer posted on the south grounds of the White House “heard and observed” the device, which was about two feet in diameter, at about 3:08 a.m. The counterterrorism official told the participants, according to Mr. Herbert, that the threat from drones like the Phantom was getting worse and was of concern to the White House.
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, who is traveling with President Obama and Michelle Obama in India, said the drone did not appear to be dangerous. Mr. and Mrs. Obama are on a three-day visit to India, but their daughters, Malia and Sasha, are in Washington. Officials at the counterrorism center disputed Mr. Herbert’s characterization of their analysts’ comments at the meeting.
“There is a device that has been recovered by the Secret Service at the White House,” Mr. Earnest told reporters. “The early indications are that it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat to anybody at the White House.” In a photograph released by the Secret Service, the drone that crashed on the South Lawn looks partly broken. It appears to be a version of the DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter that is sold on Amazon.com starting at $479. Models equipped with high-definition cameras sell for as much as $1,258 on the website.
Officials said a drone like the one that crashed on Monday probably could not carry enough explosives to significantly damage the White House structure. But the president is often outside the building inside the perimeter of the White House fence. In a statement Monday afternoon, the Secret Service said a man had called the agency about 9:30 a.m. Monday to report that he had been the one controlling the drone when it crashed on the White House grounds.
Mr. Obama and Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, are known to walk outside when the weather is nice, walking along the circular driveway that sits on the south side of the building. Mr. Obama also frequently participates in ceremonies on the South Lawn, just on the other side of fence that circles the complex. “The individual has been interviewed by Secret Service agents and been fully cooperative,” the statement said. “Initial indications are that this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device.” Under federal law, it is illegal to fly a drone in Washington.
The president’s helicopter, Marine One, lands and takes off on the South Lawn, mere steps from the entrance to the residence. Mr. Obama sometimes stands in front of the helicopter for several minutes to make a statement to the press. Secret Service agents conducted interviews on Monday with people who knew or had spoken to the government employee in an attempt to substantiate his account. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, who is traveling with President Obama and Michelle Obama in India, said both Obama daughters were home at the time of the incident. The drone caused a temporary lockdown at the White House. Mr. Earnest said the craft did not appear to be dangerous.
While drones are commonly thought of in the context of missile-firing, unmanned vehicles used against terrorists, many small flying drones are available on the commercial market and are used as toys. Security experts said on Monday that small drones are particularly difficult to defend against because it is hard to shoot them down. A military official said that the Defense Department “typically scrambles fighter aircraft for aerial threats over Washington, but when it gets to a toy, that’s not something the military typically addresses.”
A hobbyist website, www.droneflyers.com, lists “micro” sized drones that can fit into the palm of a hand for under $35 and “prosumer” models that are two feet wide and include live, high-definition video cameras. One such device is currently listed at Amazon.com for $2,899. Officials said a drone like the one that crashed on Monday was probably too small to carry enough explosives to significantly damage the White House structure. But the president is often outside the building on the White House grounds.
A spokeswoman for the Secret Service declined to say whether the agency had instituted any special protections against drones that could carry bombs or other dangerous payloads over the White House fence and toward the West Wing or the residence. Mr. Obama and Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff, walk outside when the weather is nice, making their way along the circular driveway on the south side of the building. Mr. Obama also frequently participates in ceremonies on the South Lawn, on the other side of the fence that circles the complex.
It remains unclear whether the drone in question had a camera or if it was equipped to carry anything else. The president’s helicopter, Marine One, lands and takes off on the South Lawn, just steps from the entrance to the residence. Mr. Obama sometimes stands in front of the helicopter for several minutes to make a statement to the press.
“Since the investigation into this matter is ongoing, there is no additional information at this time,” said Nicole Mainor, a staff assistant for the office of public affairs at the agency. Several years ago, the Secret Service’s air security branch, which protects the area around the White House, began a classified study of how to bring down small drones. Since then the agency has tried to develop new detection methods and ways to stop them.
The report of the drone intrusion came at a time when other threats to the president’s family or their home have led to concerns about a lack of security at one of the most heavily guarded buildings in Washington. “There’s no silver bullet,” a law enforcement official said. “It’s difficult because if you bring it down on Pennsylvania Avenue you could kill a dozen tourists.”
The Secret Service has been criticized heavily for a number of recent security breaches, including an incident where an intruder climbed the White House fence last year and reached the interior of the White House before being caught by agents. The Secret Service declined to discuss radar abilities at the White House and why the drone was not detected.
Four top Secret Service officials were demoted earlier this month in the wake of a scathing report by the Department of Homeland Security that revealed shortcomings in the way the department and its staff protected the president’s home. Brian Hearing, a founder of Droneshield L.L.C., which makes drone detection systems for prisons and nuclear facilities, said radar systems are effectively useless for catching such small drones. If the systems were set to be sensitive enough to detect the drones, they would also detect every bird or swaying tree, he said.
“Change is necessary to gain a fresh perspective on how we conduct business,” Joseph P. Clancy, the agency’s interim director, said in a written statement at the time. “I am certain any of our senior executives will be productive and valued assets either in other positions at the Secret Service or the department.” Many small drones also have a GPS function designed to return the drone to its user if it loses contact with the remote control, Mr. Hearing said. But it is also simple to program the GPS function to fly directly to a specific address, such as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The question of what to do about commercial drones is increasingly bedeviling government officials, who fear the devices could pose a threat to commercial aircraft. And because the drones can be outfitted with cameras and can fly over fences, they raise questions about privacy. Technology is available to jam the signals of an approaching drone, Mr. Hearing said, which could cause the drone to either fall to the ground or return to its user. Such technology, much of it made in China, is illegal for consumers and others to use, he said. Even more sophisticated jammers could allow those protecting the White House to take control of the drone from a user.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for regulating the airspace in the United States, last year released a list of incidents involving drones, including near-misses with commercial aircraft as well as reports of toys flying in restricted areas.
The list includes several incidents involving drones that were flying close to the White House or the Capitol in Washington.
Police detained an individual flying a drone near the Capitol building on Aug. 29. On Aug. 19, police arrested another person who had been flying a drone in Freedom Plaza, just blocks from the White House. That person was arrested while climbing a tree to recover the drone, according to the F.A.A. report.
On July 7, police questioned a person who was flying a small, quad drone near the Lincoln Memorial. And on July 3, police detained a person who was flying a drone at President’s Park, just south of the White House fence.
The F.A.A. description for the July 3 incident said that a Secret Service patrol reported someone operating a “quad-copter w/camera within P-56A” at an altitude of about 100 feet. The description said the individual was detained and the drone was confiscated by the Secret Service.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Monday that the incident at the White House proved that the F.A.A. should more heavily regulate the use of drones.
“Drones are an important new technology that will boost businesses, aid in storm preparedness and recovery, assist agricultural development and more,” Mr. Schumer said. “But rules to protect the safety and privacy of the American people must keep pace, and I am calling on the FAA and OMB to get these long-delayed regulations on the books.”