This article is from the source 'washpo' 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.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress-would-like-better-video-from-secret-service-there-might-not-be-any/2015/03/19/ae02773a-cd80-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

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

Version 2 Version 3
Secret Service may have erased footage of barricade incident Much of the video of the Secret Service barricade incident has been erased
(about 5 hours 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. Much of the surveillance video taken during a March 4 incident at the White House complex, in which Secret Service agents drove into a barricade marking off a bomb-threat investigation, has been erased, the agency’s top official told lawmakers Thursday.
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. Director Joseph P. Clancy, testifying before Congress for the second time this week, said the footage of the incident no longer exists, because of an agency practice of recording over surveillance video every three days. Clancy said his department is bringing in the security system’s manufacturer and government experts to try to recover the lost footage.
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. “We understand it’s a concern,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to retrieve those images and be as transparent as we can be.”
“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.” Clancy’s confirmation that his agency erased potentially useful evidence in an investigation of alleged staff misconduct on the White House grounds came as he tried to play down the seriousness of the incident.
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.” He said that media reports of the incident at the complex had been exaggerated. He said that, based on the recordings the Secret Service still has from that evening, the agents’ government car was moving very slowly and bumped a construction barrel out of the way.
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. Lawmakers reacted with frustration to Thursday afternoon’s news.
“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.” House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) called it “beyond shocking” that surveillance video was recorded over on the same night there was a bomb threat at the White House compound. He said the reasons most recordings were not retained will be part of the committee’s bipartisan investigation.
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. Chaffetz and several lawmakers investigating the latest case of alleged Secret Service misconduct had expressed frustration late Tuesday after viewing two videos of the incident during a closed meeting. They complained to Clancy that the footage did not 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 Tuesday 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.
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), a ranking member of an Oversight subcommittee, said Thursday there was little excuse for such information to be purged so quickly, especially given that many businesses retain such video footage for a month.
“It is an antiquated system to purge video after 72 hours. We know from past experience that post-incident review relies heavily on our ability to retain those tapes,” he said. “There is no reason to be taping over those tapes. We need a stem to stern review of our technology at the White House.”
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said he thinks the agency policy should be to save video on the night of a bomb threat.
“It’s extremely concerning to me,” he said. “Even without this incident, this is film we should have kept, film I would have liked to see. ”
[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 confirmed the agency’s general practice of overwriting security footage every three days.
“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. The incident, which is under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, has prompted renewed questions from lawmakers about the ability of the Secret Service’s new director and a new set of managers to turn around their agency after 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-threat 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 the bomb-threat investigation. Not long before they arrived, a woman threw a suspicious package near the White House’s east entrance and yelled that it was a bomb, according to a police report.
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 allegedly 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 videos 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. That would include video from the complex taken during the incident, and for roughly an hour before and an hour after. That is to determine whether 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. The investigation into the package was considered a serious incident, and that explains why the Secret Service retained some 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 internally 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. The possibility that evidence is missing is all the more disconcerting, Chaffetz said, in the wake of a 2011 incident in which a man fired shots at the White House, leading to the addition of hundreds of surveillance cameras on the White House perimeter and grounds.
“It may be standard operating procedure, but it really harms our ability to get to the truth of what happened,” he said. In that breach, an 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.
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.
“It’s stunning to me that we’re going through this again,” Chaffetz said.“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.
“That is a significant concern and question I have,” he said of the policy.