Secret Service Reveals There Were 40 White House Barrier Jumpers In Past Five Years

The Secret Service revealed to Congress on Friday that a shocking 40 incidents of fence or barrier jumping have taken place at the White House in the past five years.

While that figure represents more than twice as many similar incidents over previous periods, it relates to all breeches of security, such as lower barrier breeches and not necessarily intrusions to the main fence.

The report cited ten separate instances involving a person scaling the fixed security fencing surrounding the White House complex to access a restricted area without authorization.

There were also another 30 people involved in crossing lower fences and barriers, known as “bike racks” or breeching police tape surrounding the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the New Executive Office Building or the U.S. Treasury Department building and surrounding space.

In 2014 alone there have been four incidents of people jumping over the White House North fence, one of which was Omar Gonzales, who, amazingly, made it into the ceremonial heart of the White House before agents wrestled him to the ground in September.

Back in March, a man reportedly scaled the North fence and sprinted across the lawn, before being apprehended by a K-9 unit and taken to hospital for treatment, as the report noted about that incident, “He appeared to suffer from mental illness and stated that he wanted to talk to the president about the health care law. He admitted to drug use and non-compliance with psychiatric mediation.”

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson also testified in October, before stepping down from her position, that there had been numerous jumpers at the White House in the last five years.

“In addition to fence-jumpers, over the last five years hundreds of individuals have approached the White House perimeter, verbalizing threats to our protectees or acting in a suspicious manner. Officers and agents routinely leverage their experience and training to make decisions to either arrest or transfer these individuals to appropriate facilities for mental health evaluations.”