Border control at White House?
The US Secret Service islooking into how an uninvited couple penetrated several layers ofsecurity and entered a White House state dinner for Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh.
The Secret Service, in charge of White House security, is”conducting a comprehensive review of the incident which occurred atthe White House State Dinner” late Tuesday, Special Agent in ChargeEdwin Donovan told AFP.
“Initial findings identified a Secret Service checkpoint which didnot follow proper procedures to ensure that the two individuals namedin a Washington Post story were on the invited guest list,” Donovansaid.
He emphasized that the couples “went through magnetometers and otherlevels of security, as did all guests attending the dinner.”
The Washington Post, which broke the story, identified thecouple as Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who they described as aspiringreality TV stars from nearby northern Virginia.
The pair are in line to star on the television series The Real Housewives of Washington.
The couple went on to boast about their coup on a Facebook webpage,in which they appear in photos with Vice President Joe Biden, WhiteHouse Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and TV news anchor Katie Couric.
Former George Bush homeland security adviser Fran Townsend told CNN the couple could face charges.
“This is not sort of a minor infraction, if you’re these two people whogot in improperly. It’s a potential felony,” Ms Townsend said.
“They would have had to make a false statement to the Secret Serviceagent and the social secretary’s person, both federal officials, thatthere was a mistake, that they were supposed to be on the list.”
“That’s a lie and that’s a federal felony, for which they can serve jail time. It’s not just a misdemeanor for trespassing.”