According to The Washington Post , the Salahis aren't the first morons to try and succeed to fool the secret service agents. At least 91 breaches have been counted since the 80s by the Secret Service in a report obtained by the WashPost. The Uninvited guests go from publicity seekers to unstable personalities.
The WashingtonPost reports that the agents had many time let in people who weren't supposed to enter in the White House. In fact, some officers have mistakenly admitted to the White House grounds a family in a minivan, a man believed to be a delivery driver, and a woman previously known to agents after she had falsely claimed a "special relationship" with Bill Clinton. I wonder why Desiree Rogers wasn't at the door to verify if they were on the list back then ?
Then-Director Brian Stafford commissioned the review in 2001 after the service was humiliated for a third time by the most notorious presidential gate-crasher, Richard C. Weaver, who evaded inauguration security to shake George W. Bush's hand. Weaver, a California minister, had previously infiltrated a 1991 prayer breakfast attended by then-President George H.W. Bush, and Clinton's 1997 inaugural luncheon. He approached the younger Bush again at a prayer breakfast in 2003 before being arrested.
Mrs Cathy Hargraves, who according to her statement "resigned because of Rogers' handling of her job and put the blame on State Dinner security breach on Mrs Desiree Rogers, was in 2003 working for the Bush Administration. She claimed that her job was to check if people attending to reception were on the list or not. Since Mrs Hargraves whined that her keeping her would have prevent the Salahis to get in, can we assume in 2003, she was standing at the check point with her trusty clipboard yet Richard C. Weaver managed to get into the 2003 prayer breakfast near President Bush ? Is she to blame for that security break as Desiree Rogers is to blame according to her ?
We all know that this "this wouldn't have happened if The WH Social Secretary had been standing at the gate" meme is a big BS. I saw it as a new way found by Repubs and the MSM to attack this President and his admnistration. As for Rep Peter King (R-NY) every opportunity to put his face on TV can't be ruined.
The Salahi case underscores that less-serious, lesser-known violations also persist. In an October 1982 case dubbed "The Family Outing," James Douglas Imes, 38, his wife and two sons drove to the White House in a minivan, honked their horn and were let on to the grounds. Officers were confused because another gate was broken, then assumed the family was authorized until they neared the Oval Office entrance.
Christian K. Hughes, 37 -- nicknamed "The Paper Boy" -- drove through an open White House gate in January 1987 because an officer assumed he was a deliveryman. At the North Porch, Hughes gave a second unsuspecting officer a pair of handcuffs, asked to see the chief of staff, then drove past additional posts before he was stopped.
In November 1994, celebrity-chaser Stephan O. Winick, 29, joined actor Harrison Ford's entourage in an elevator as the group was escorted through metal detectors to meet Clinton at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.
(...)
A notorious example of the latter was Mary D'Aiuto, 27, who was known to agents as someone who believed she had a relationship with Clinton and repeatedly had tried to contact him. Nevertheless, she was able to get on the White House lawn during the 1998 Easter Egg Roll and was photographed repeatedly.