Stung by accusations that it cannot adequately protect the White House, the Secret Service wants to spend $8 million to build another White House in Beltsville, Md.
In prepared testimony before the House Appropriations Committee,Joseph P. Clancy, the director of the Secret Service, on Tuesday will urge lawmakers to give him money to build a detailed replica of the White House to aid in training officers and agents to protect the real thing. Beltsville, about 20 miles from the real White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, is the site of a 500-acre Secret Service training site in the verdant terrain of Southern Maryland.
“The Secret Service currently uses a rudimentary, not-to-scale simulation of the north grounds of the White House, using bike barricades to act as the fencing,” Mr. Clancy will tell lawmakers, according to the prepared remarks. “There are no structures, vehicle gates, lighting or other aids to enhance the training simulations.”
It is unclear whether the structure would be a full-scale replica of all sides of the White House. Officials said the design had not yet been completed.
The request comes six months after an intruder scaled a wrought-iron fence around the White House and ran through an unlocked front door of the residence and into the East Room before being tackled by officers.
That incident raised deep concerns about security at the White House and prompted several inquiries into what should be done to prevent future breaches. A panel of security experts appointed by Jeh Johnson, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, urged building a higher fence immediately.
But the panel also said that the “problems exposed by recent events go deeper than a new fence can fix.” Members of the panel urged the Secret Service to increase the amount of time that agents and officers devote to training, and recommended that employees train “in conditions that replicate the physical environment in which they will operate.”
“A security team should also be trained so that it is intimately familiar with the space in which it is operating,” the report’s authors wrote to Mr. Johnson.
The Secret Service appears to have taken that last piece of advice to heart. In addition to money for a mock White House, the agency’s budget request includes funds to renovate a “live-fire shoot house” and to repair and enhance a “tactical village” training site that aims to recreate a city street environment.
(NY Times)
