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| Secret Service may have erased footage of barricade incident | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Secret Service has warned lawmakers that video footage of a March 4 incident, when agents suspected of drinking drove into a White House barricade marking off an active bomb investigation, may have been erased because of an agency practice of purging surveillance video every three days. | The Secret Service has warned lawmakers that video footage of a March 4 incident, when agents suspected of drinking drove into a White House barricade marking off an active bomb investigation, may have been erased because of an agency practice of purging surveillance video every three days. |
| Lawmakers investigating the latest case of alleged Secret Service misconduct expressed frustration after viewing two videos of the incident during a closed meeting Tuesday, complaining to Secret Service Director Joseph P. Clancy that the footage didn’t help them see much of the agents’ actions that night. The videos showed the same scene from two angles, according to lawmakers who viewed them. | Lawmakers investigating the latest case of alleged Secret Service misconduct expressed frustration after viewing two videos of the incident during a closed meeting Tuesday, complaining to Secret Service Director Joseph P. Clancy that the footage didn’t help them see much of the agents’ actions that night. The videos showed the same scene from two angles, according to lawmakers who viewed them. |
| When they asked for more video of the incident and of the events leading up to it, Clancy was noncommittal. He went on to acknowledge the service’s practice of recording over surveillance video, according to three lawmakers who were present. | When they asked for more video of the incident and of the events leading up to it, Clancy was noncommittal. He went on to acknowledge the service’s practice of recording over surveillance video, according to three lawmakers who were present. |
| “It’s very troubling,” Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who was present for the briefing, said in an interview. “In these recent cases, you may have actually destroyed evidence.” | “It’s very troubling,” Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who was present for the briefing, said in an interview. “In these recent cases, you may have actually destroyed evidence.” |
| Lynch, the ranking member of Oversight’s national security subcommittee, added: “There was an opportunity to learn here. I am troubled by the fact that there was a gap here.” | Lynch, the ranking member of Oversight’s national security subcommittee, added: “There was an opportunity to learn here. I am troubled by the fact that there was a gap here.” |
| Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the committee chairman, said he finds it “disconcerting” that the Secret Service director has not said definitively whether tapes of the incident that night were erased. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the committee chairman, said he finds it “disconcerting” that the Secret Service director has not said definitively whether tapes of the incident that night were erased. |
| “I don’t know if we’re getting the runaround or what,” he said, adding that he and fellow members asked the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general about the director’s comments on Wednesday. “It’s fair to say the inspector general is highly skeptical of that claim of erased tapes.” | |
| But former Secret Service officials, who requested anonymity to be able to speak frankly about agency security, said videotape from nearly all surveillance cameras on White House grounds that evening should have been preserved as a result of a serious incident that occurred that same night at roughly the same time: a bomb threat. | But former Secret Service officials, who requested anonymity to be able to speak frankly about agency security, said videotape from nearly all surveillance cameras on White House grounds that evening should have been preserved as a result of a serious incident that occurred that same night at roughly the same time: a bomb threat. |
| [Cillizza: Why the Secret Service spills its secrets] | [Cillizza: Why the Secret Service spills its secrets] |
| Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary late Wednesday evening confirmed the agency’s general practice of overwriting security tape every three days. But he declined to confirm whether tapes capturing the events of March 4 had been erased. | Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary late Wednesday evening confirmed the agency’s general practice of overwriting security tape every three days. But he declined to confirm whether tapes capturing the events of March 4 had been erased. |
| “As a practice, the Secret Service maintains video footage of camera systems at the White House for a period of 72 hours,” he said. “In the event of an operational security incident at the White House complex, specific video footage is maintained for investigative and protective intelligence purposes.” | “As a practice, the Secret Service maintains video footage of camera systems at the White House for a period of 72 hours,” he said. “In the event of an operational security incident at the White House complex, specific video footage is maintained for investigative and protective intelligence purposes.” |
| The incident, which is now under investigation by the inspector general, has prompted renewed questions from lawmakers about the ability of the new director and a new set of Secret Service managers to turn around their agency following a string of missteps. | |
| On March 4, the two senior agents, including a top member of President Obama’s security detail, drove their car onto the White House compound during an active bomb investigation. | On March 4, the two senior agents, including a top member of President Obama’s security detail, drove their car onto the White House compound during an active bomb investigation. |
| The pair had returned from a work party at a Chinatown bar sometime after 10:30 p.m., and officers on duty believed they were behaving erratically, according to officials familiar with the incident. Officers complained that a supervisor on duty that night ordered them to let the agents go home without facing sobriety tests, an official said. | The pair had returned from a work party at a Chinatown bar sometime after 10:30 p.m., and officers on duty believed they were behaving erratically, according to officials familiar with the incident. Officers complained that a supervisor on duty that night ordered them to let the agents go home without facing sobriety tests, an official said. |
| Officers also complained that the two agents disrupted an active bomb investigation. Not long before they arrived, a Pennsylvania woman threw a suspicious package onto the White House’s east entrance and yelled that it was a bomb. | Officers also complained that the two agents disrupted an active bomb investigation. Not long before they arrived, a Pennsylvania woman threw a suspicious package onto the White House’s east entrance and yelled that it was a bomb. |
| Officers guarding the White House cordoned off the area and were waiting for a bomb squad to examine the package. The two senior agents are under investigation for interfering with a secure crime scene before the bomb squad had determined that the package posed no risk. | Officers guarding the White House cordoned off the area and were waiting for a bomb squad to examine the package. The two senior agents are under investigation for interfering with a secure crime scene before the bomb squad had determined that the package posed no risk. |
| While the two videotapes viewed Tuesday by lawmakers showed the agents’ car driving near a suspicious package, several lawmakers told The Washington Post that it was not useful in weighing whether the agents had been driving under the influence of alcohol or behaved oddly with the officers. | While the two videotapes viewed Tuesday by lawmakers showed the agents’ car driving near a suspicious package, several lawmakers told The Washington Post that it was not useful in weighing whether the agents had been driving under the influence of alcohol or behaved oddly with the officers. |
| Surveillance videos are normally saved onto a separate disk if there is a reported incident that day, in part to preserve evidence and to help with deeper investigation. The videos will be pulled from the complex during the time of the incident, but also for at least an hour before and an hour after it. That is to determine if suspects can be seen somewhere else near the property, what they were doing and whom they were with. | Surveillance videos are normally saved onto a separate disk if there is a reported incident that day, in part to preserve evidence and to help with deeper investigation. The videos will be pulled from the complex during the time of the incident, but also for at least an hour before and an hour after it. That is to determine if suspects can be seen somewhere else near the property, what they were doing and whom they were with. |
| But there are differing views among law enforcement officials about how much video would be preserved and from which cameras. | But there are differing views among law enforcement officials about how much video would be preserved and from which cameras. |
| One current law enforcement official said the Service may have overwritten camera footage from other parts of the White House complex not relevant to the suspicious package. | One current law enforcement official said the Service may have overwritten camera footage from other parts of the White House complex not relevant to the suspicious package. |
| The investigation of a suspicious package a woman threw onto the White House complex at about 10:30 p.m. was considered a serious incident, and that explains why the Service has a video that shows the agents’ path near the package. The senior agents’ actions when driving onto the White House grounds and officers’ complaints about them were not reported as a serious incident. | |
| Clancy said he did not learn of the incident until March 9 — five days later — and only after a whistleblower made an anonymous complaint. Clancy said he was “very frustrated” by the failure to notify him. | Clancy said he did not learn of the incident until March 9 — five days later — and only after a whistleblower made an anonymous complaint. Clancy said he was “very frustrated” by the failure to notify him. |
| Chaffetz, the committee chairman, said it’s “just unbelievable” that tapes could have been erased as a matter of course — before the director even knew about the events. | Chaffetz, the committee chairman, said it’s “just unbelievable” that tapes could have been erased as a matter of course — before the director even knew about the events. |
| “It may be standard operating procedure, but it really harms our ability to get to the truth of what happened,” he said. | “It may be standard operating procedure, but it really harms our ability to get to the truth of what happened,” he said. |
| The possibility that evidence is missing is all the more disconcerting, Chaffetz said, in the wake of a 2011 shooting at the White House that led to the addition of hundreds of surveillance cameras on the White House perimeter and grounds. | The possibility that evidence is missing is all the more disconcerting, Chaffetz said, in the wake of a 2011 shooting at the White House that led to the addition of hundreds of surveillance cameras on the White House perimeter and grounds. |
| In that breach, a mentally troubled Idaho man shot a semiautomatic rifle at the White House when the president’s younger daughter and mother-in-law were at home. The Secret Service did not discover that the house and the family residence had been struck multiple times until four days later, when a housekeeper found bullets and damage on the Truman balcony. | In that breach, a mentally troubled Idaho man shot a semiautomatic rifle at the White House when the president’s younger daughter and mother-in-law were at home. The Secret Service did not discover that the house and the family residence had been struck multiple times until four days later, when a housekeeper found bullets and damage on the Truman balcony. |
| “It’s stunning to me that we’re going through this again,” Chaffetz said. | |
| Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat of the Oversight Committee, said he doesn’t think there was anything nefarious about the erasures, but the result is not good for the committee’s investigation. | Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat of the Oversight Committee, said he doesn’t think there was anything nefarious about the erasures, but the result is not good for the committee’s investigation. |
| “That is a significant concern and question I have,” he said of the policy. | “That is a significant concern and question I have,” he said of the policy. |