Obama’s Security Service: Secret Service Ignored Shots Fired at the White House

In 2011, multiple shots were fired at the White House — but according to a newspaper report, President Obama’s security staff took days to take the attack seriously, believing the shots to have been noises made by construction equipment.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired seven shots at the White House’s third floor. Many bullets became lodged in window frames or ricocheted off the roof. One broke the window of a room next to the president’s living room. The president and the first lady, Michelle, were not at home on the evening of Nov. 11, 2011 when the shooting took place, but their younger daughter, Sasha, was.

Initially, United States Secret Service agents, President Obama’s bodyguards, were alarmed. Sharpshooters on the roof were searching the president’s garden through their telescopic sights when their superiors gave a surprising command: “No shots fired. Stand down!” The noises were believed to have been caused by some nearby construction equipment backfiring.

The investigation into the attack on the White House, which occurred almost exactly three years ago, was concluded shortly after it happened. The shooter, an unemployed 21-year-old, was sentenced to a 25-year jail term last year. Yet a report in The Washington Post reveals just how amateurishly the Secret Service agents handled the attack.

Just How Safe Is President Obama?

This revelation makes a mockery of the United States’ legendary Secret Service, members of which have, until now, been famous for throwing themselves heroically between the president and would-be attackers. This report, however, begs the question as to how well Secret Service agents actually keep the president — whose life is in danger on a regular basis — safe. Only a few days ago, a man armed with two axes and a machete tried to force his way into the presidential residence.

According to The Washington Post, the White House’s security staff did not take the 2011 attack seriously for days. The construction equipment theory was, indeed, rejected a few hours later and replaced by the equally bizarre, and likewise completely false, explanation that two enemy gangs had been shooting at each other in the vicinity of the White House — something which is absolutely unheard of in the quiet tourist district of Washington, D.C.

It was only four days later that the Secret Service agents admitted that the shooter had been aiming at the White House. A janitor found the shards of glass from the shot-out window and a chunk of cement that had broken off the wall.

Shooter’s Blunder Leads to His Arrest

Secret Service and White House spokespersons were not willing to comment on the report. In its investigation, The Washington Post claims to have spoken to numerous Secret Service agents and government employees, and analyzed over 100 pages of answers to its questions about what happened.

According to the report, the Secret Service’s investigation of the incident was blighted by its agents’ own arrogance and ineptitude. It did not take witness statements and only made a superficial examination of the crime scene. It stuck to its own erroneous conclusions, even though the evidence clearly showed they were wrong. The shooter was, however, quickly apprehended and only has himself to blame. During his escape, he caused a fender bender and fled the scene, leaving his gun inside the car.

President Obama is reported to be profoundly annoyed with his security staff, so writes the Post. He has every reason to fear for his life. According to a Secret Service estimation, which is quoted in the article, the first black president in United States history receives three times as many death threats as his predecessors.