Posted on 09/21/2014 10:34:19 AM PDT by Nachum
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of getting inside the White House after scaling a fence is a veteran who was awarded a medal for his service in Iraq and retired due to disability, the Army said Sunday.
Authorities have identified the intruder from Friday night's shocking incident as Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas, and the Army said he had served from 1997 to 2003, when he was discharged, and then again from 2005 to December 2012, when he retired.
The military does not provide details about a soldier's disability due to privacy considerations.
The Secret Service tightened security outside the White House after the embarrassing breach in which the intruder carrying a knife climbed the fence, ran across the lawn and entered the building before agents stopped him.
The first family was away from the White House at the time.
Increased surveillance and more officer patrols are among the measures that Secret Service Director Julia Pierson ordered. She also began an investigation into what went wrong.
A member of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday that it was astonishing, at a time of concerns about terrorist attacks, that "someone could actually get into the White House without being stopped."
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpage.pch.com ...
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
It’ll be interesting to see how the prosecution responds to his lawyer’s claims of PTSD.
If this guy was Caucasian, “privacy” would not be an issue ...
Not so astonishing when you consider the intruder precedent set January 2009.
The first family was away from the White House at the time.
Lights are off, nobody is at home in the White House these days.
pinng
If only President Bozo cared about the invaders of our southern border as much as he did about white hut invaders.
Now 0bama knows how the citizens of Texas, California and Arizona feel. But he still doesn’t givva chit.
There is a First Family? Who knew?
Buncha squatters, transients just passing through, occasionally stop by there from time to time, between sojourns overseas and to exotic vacation spots. Or golfing trips.
But to call this bunch a family? That does strain the definition a little.
Start with the commander, Julia.
He could have gone into the White Hose Kitchen and stolen a Knife. Big whoop.
Perpetual vacations and campaigning!
If he was an illegal immigrant he’d be released after being fed and clothed.
The military is one of the few places where everyone is treated the same-and most people of Hispanic ancestry ARE Caucasian...
With a knife, eh ?
I don't think I know a man that does NOT carry a knife ... I got one right now, in my church pants pocket ... one of those lock blade, dry-wall type bladed knives.
Is THIS a box cutter ?
More like a utility knife in MY vernacular.
Is this the one who said he had to warn the president because the atmosphere was collapsing?
I heard that Tom Bodett leaves a light on in case you decide to drop by...
“Secret Service Director Julia Pierson... began an investigation into what went wrong.”
Gonzalez obviously tired of waiting for an investigation of what went wrong with the Administration’s foreign policy and acted on his own conclusions.
It’s anyone’s guess what orifice he intended to put that knife
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