House Oversight chief seeks information from Secret Service about cocaine found in White House
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This coverage includes security sweeps, bomb threats and suspicious packages, as well as vehicle and other material examinations. The canine team provides this coverage twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the White House complex, around Foreign Missions, and at the Vice President's Residence. Our canine team also travels in support of Secret Service protective details worldwide and supports our law enforcement partners on a case-by-case basis. Protection of government officials is not solely the responsibility of the Secret Service, with many other agencies, such as the United States Capitol Police, Supreme Court Police and Diplomatic Security Service, providing personal protective services to domestic and foreign officials. However, while these agencies are nominally responsible for services to other officers of the United States and senior dignitaries, the Secret Service provides protective services at the highest-level – i.e. for heads of state and heads of government.
How many people are employed by the Secret Service?
Typically, foreign and defense ministers from important nations as well as others with high threats are typically covered by DSS. These have included Prince William, Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Princess Diana. Within the State Department, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) has a high-profile personal protective function as well, highlighted whenever the secretary of state travels overseas. The secretary of state detail is DSS's largest permanent dignitary protective detail. Currently, the Secret Service provides protection to over 40 individuals on a full time bases and can provide temporary protection of almost 200 individuals -- as happens every September during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
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Following the tragedy the Secret Service was authorized to protect the President of the United States. In 1906, Congress passed legislation and funds for the Secret Service to provide presidential protection. Over the years the number of our protectees and the scope of the protective mission has expanded in response to the evolving threat environment. Protection of the nation's highest elected leaders and other government officials is one of the primary missions of the Secret Service. After the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley, Congress also directed the Secret Service to protect the president of the United States. The Secret Service investigates thousands of incidents each year of individuals threatening the president of the United States.
FBI and U.S. Marshals Service (USMS):
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Anyone who comes through the White House must give identifying information and pass through security before entering. Julia Ainsley is homeland security correspondent for NBC News and covers the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department for the NBC News Investigative Unit. The incident drew much public attention in recent days, including criticism from Republicans who accused the Biden administration of not doing enough to find the culprit. "You can't tell me in the White House with 24/7 surveillance and a cubbyhole by a situation room you don't know who left it there," McCarthy told reporters. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the Secret Service shouldn't end its investigation.
How long do former presidents receive Secret Service protection after they leave office?
The department is asking private businesses to review their security footage and will ask the DC community to help identify those who were damaging property or hurting people. Secret Service agents discovered the white powder in a small, clear plastic bag Sunday and closed the White House complex as a precaution, the Secret Service said. The cocaine was found on Sunday, and its discovery prompted a brief shutdown of the White House. President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden were not in the building when the substance was discovered, having spent the weekend with their family at Camp David.
Secret Service agent removed from VP Harris' detail after 'distressing behavior'
In the United States, executive protection is provided by an array of federal entities whose mission is to ensure their charges are kept free from harm. Often, though, the overlapping federal gamut becomes confusing as different agencies perform what many perceive as a similar function but for different people. Our specialized resources provide protection from threats, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials and explosive devices. The agent, whose identity has not been released, began acting strangely and exhibiting behavior "colleagues found distressing," Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, said in a statement Thursday. "The agent was removed from their assignment while medical personnel were summoned." The agent was part of Harris' security team at Joint Base Andrews base in Maryland on Monday morning when the vice president was leaving for Wisconsin.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that the area is "heavily traveled" by staff and visitors, including those taking tours. The Oversight chairman said that the "alarming" incident requires the committee to examine the security practices at the White House and "determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance." Washington — The Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee will assess the security practices at the White House and is seeking information from the head of the U.S. Secret Service after a small bag of cocaine was discovered near a lobby in the West Wing over the weekend.
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That testing confirmed it was cocaine and determined it was not a biological threat like anthrax or ricin. The agency, along with the FBI, tested the packet to determine it was cocaine and looked for any fingerprints or DNA evidence. Video footage of the area where the baggie was found also provided no evidence to narrow the possible suspects beyond a list of roughly 500 staff members and visitors who passed through during a weekend earlier this month. WASHINGTON − The Secret Service concluded an investigation into cocaine found at the White House but was unable to determine who brought it into the building − nor do officials have any suspects. While awaiting the FBl's results, the Secret Service investigation into how this item entered the White House continued.
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The investigation included a methodical review of security systems and protocols. This review included a backwards examination that spanned several days prior to the discovery of the substance and developed an index of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the substance was found. The focal point of these actions developed a pool of known persons for comparison of forensic evidence gleaned from the FBI’s analysis of the substance's packaging. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, told reporters that officials explained during the briefing that the White House was "fully cooperative" with the Secret Service's probe, and said he is satisfied the agency conducted a "thorough investigation." Still, its discovery set off rounds of questions for the White House, including about its security protocols and who had access to the area where the substance was found. White House press secretary Karine-Jean Pierre said the space is "heavily traveled" by staff and visitors, including those taking tours.
After months of first praising Kennedy and then insisting that his candidacy would hurt Biden more, Trump has now accused Kennedy of being “a Democrat ‘Plant’” designed to help Biden win the election. The Secret Service works closely with the United States Attorney's Office in both protective and investigative matters. The agent had been at Joint Base Andrews to support Harris’ planned departure, but ultimately the scuffle did not delay her travel.
In a statement describing the events surrounding the cocaine's discovery, which began July 2, the Secret Service said as part of its review, it compiled a list of "several hundred" people who may have accessed the area where the substance was discovered. But no fingerprints could be found on the cocaine's packaging and there was "insufficient DNA" for "investigative comparisons," the Secret Service said. Washington — The U.S. Secret Service has closed its investigation into the bag of cocaine that was discovered at the White House earlier this month, but was unable to identify a suspect "due to a lack of physical evidence," the agency said Thursday. Army commanders during war-time and contingency operations as directed, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. The highest profile is, of course, the secretary of defense, who receives their protection via the U.S. The Marshals Service has broad legal authority to provide protection for almost anyone not given specific protection by law, hence their ability to provide protection for the secretary of education.
Come join a diverse team with one of the most elite law enforcement agencies in the world. The Secret Service said an agent found the cocaine within a storage box where White House visitors drop their cellphones inside the West Wing lobby, which serves as a reception room for visitors of White House personnel. The Secret Service's review also included sifting through surveillance footage and visitor logs of several hundred individuals who had access to the West Wing lobby where the cocaine was found.
The Secret Service investigation has concluded with no usable forensic or video evidence identifying the person responsible, three Secret Service officials familiar with the investigation said. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi said the agency determined that interviewing all 500 people could be a strain on resources, might infringe upon civil liberties and would likely be fruitless without corresponding physical evidence tying any person to the drugs. "At this time, the Secret Service's investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence," the Secret Service said in a statement Thursday.
"Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered," the agency said. "At this time, the Secret Service's investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence." Perhaps the largest and broadest personal protective role in the federal government is the Department of Defense (DOD) and its component military branches that operate protective details on a wide range of DOD personnel and officers. But as with their Diplomatic Security Service counterparts, agents assigned to protective details endure heavy travel burdens, often working long hours away from home. The psychological health of armed agents serving in very close proximity to high-ranking government officials and foreign heads of state is thus a high-priority concern for the Secret Service. The members of this unit support our investigative and protective mission through specialized training in multiple types of evidence gathering and recovery.
This executive protection is provided by the Security Protective Service and Protective Agents, who -- despite Hollywood depictions -- are actually federal law enforcement officers with police powers rather than agents from the ranks of the CIA's intelligence personnel. This is due in large part to the necessity of these officers to be able to arrest people, an authority intelligence officers lack. Our Canine Explosive Detection Unit provides a safe and secure environment for individuals and locations protected by the Secret Service.
Emergency Response Team provides the White House and other authorized locations with advanced tactical response when necessary. Technicians are responsible for conducting security sweeps of the grounds, responding to and neutralizing threats from organized groups or individuals. The Emergency Response Team currently includes a canine team to assist team members in conducting sweeps and aiding in suspect apprehension in the event of a breach. When the unknown powdered substance was discovered, sections of the White House were evacuated as the Washington Fire Department was called to the scene and performed a field test that identified the substance as cocaine. The sample was sent to the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick, Maryland, the Secret Service statement said.
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