The director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, just released a statement on the couple who got into the White House state dinner this week without an invitation. Here is the full text:
On Friday, November 27, 2009, United States Secret
Service Director Mark Sullivan issued the following statement:
“The Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed by the
circumstances surrounding the State Dinner on Tuesday, November 24.
The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined
established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint,
verifying that two individuals were on the guest list.
Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels
of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event
entirely. That failing is ours.
The Secret Service safely processed more than 1.2 million visitors last
year to the White House complex. In the last several years, the agency
has successfully protected more than 10,000 sites for the President,
Vice President and other Secret Service protectees, screening more than
7 million people through magnetometers at campaign related events, with
more than 1 million during the Inauguration alone.
Even with these successes, we need to be right 100% of the time. While
we have protocols in place to address these situations, we must ensure
that they are followed each and every time.
As our investigation continues, appropriate measures have been taken to
ensure this is not repeated.
The men and women of the U.S. Secret Service are committed to providing
the highest level of security for those we are charged to protect, and
we will do whatever is necessary to accomplish this mission.”
