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Much of the video of the Secret Service barricade incident has been erased Much of the video of the Secret Service barricade incident has been erased
(about 1 hour later)
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.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.
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. 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.
“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.”“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.”
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. Clancy’s confirmation that his agency erased evidence that could be useful in an investigation of alleged staff misconduct on the White House grounds came as he tried to play down the seriousness of the incident.
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. That night after a work party at a Chinatown bar, two senior agents, including a top member of President Obama’s security detail, drove their car into an area that had been cordoned off after a woman had thrown a package into the area and yelled that it was a bomb. Surveillance video that had been preserved because of the bomb threat showed that the car drove next to the package, which was being investigated by police and later ruled to be harmless.
Clancy said Thursday that media reports had exaggerated the incident. He said the recordings that had been preserved showed the agents’ government car was moving very slowly and bumped a construction barrel out of the way.
Lawmakers reacted with frustration to Thursday afternoon’s news.Lawmakers reacted with frustration to Thursday afternoon’s news.
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. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said it was a “flat-out dumb policy” that would allow surveillance video that had been taken on the night of a bomb threat to be erased.
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. He said the committee’s bipartisan investigation will “drag some people before Congress and find out if it was done on purpose.”
Chaffetz and several lawmakers investigating the latest case of alleged Secret Service misconduct had expressed concern 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.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. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (Mass.), ranking Democrat 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.” “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. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee 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. ”“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. ”
Members of the House committee sent a letter to Clancy late Thursday requesting documents and additional video footage.
In their letter, obtained by The Washington Post, the lawmakers said they were concerned to have learned that Obama was home during the March 4 incident. They also said they had learned that officers that night had been mistakenly called off of their pursuit of the woman who allegedly threw the package, allowing her to evade authorities for two days.
[Cillizza: Why the Secret Service spills its secrets][Cillizza: Why the Secret Service spills its secrets]
Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary late Wednesday confirmed the agency’s general practice of overwriting security footage every three days. 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 leadership to turn around their agency after a string of missteps. Clancy, who took over temporarily last fall after the resignation of Director Julia Pierson, was appointed last month to be the agency’s permanent director.
“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.” On the night of the most recent incident, officers on duty believed the two senior agents 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 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. While the two videos viewed Tuesday by lawmakers showed the agents’ car driving near a suspicious package, several lawmakers told The Washington Post that the footage was not useful in weighing whether the agents had been driving under the influence of alcohol or behaved oddly with the officers.
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. Clancy’s remarks Thursday shed light on the Secret Service’s practice in preserving certain video footage but erasing routine recordings.
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. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said that, as a practice, the agency “maintains video footage of camera systems at the White House for a period of 72 hours.” He said that, in the event of an “operational security incident at the White House complex, specific video footage is maintained for investigative and protective intelligence purposes.”
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. 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.
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. On the night of March 4, the investigation into the suspicious 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 were not reported internally as a serious incident.
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. Clancy said he did not learn of the incident until March 9 — five days later, and two days after much of the video footage from that night had been erased. He said he learned of it after a whistleblower made an anonymous complaint. Clancy said he was “very frustrated” that he had not been immediately notified.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
“It’s stunning to me that we’re going through this again,” Chaffetz said.