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Secret Service Chief Challenged - White House Crashers Tareq & Michaele Salahi

Dec 4, 2009

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan was contrite and said three Secret Service officers have been put on administrative leave after the security breach at last week's White House dinner. The director discussed Tareq and Michaele Salahi while appearing before the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson's panel for questioning.
Secret Service Chief Challenged - White House Crashers Tareq & Michaele Salahi
"I could not have more confidence in the Secret Service," President Obama said. (Image: WENN)

White House crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi are the basic subject of the hearings and the ease in which they were able to obtain face-to-face access with the president without an invitation has drawn outrage from those concerned for the safety of President Obama.

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Tareq and Michaele Salahi are still insisting they were invited, but CBS News Crimesider reports, "(The) Salahis pressed a friendly Pentagon aide for over four days to obtain tickets to the gala, yet copies of e-mails between the parties undercut the Salahis' claims that they were expected guests."

So - what went wrong? "I believe it was an isolated incident," Sullivan said. "I think it's due just to poor judgment." The Houston Chronicle notes the director added, "Pure and simple, this was human error" in which normal security protocols were not followed, Sullivan said. The breach was not caused by poor screening technology, he added.

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See video here from MSNBC News and a report from their service notes that despite the mishap Obama said he still feels safe in the mansion and trusts the Secret Service to protect him and his family.

"I could not have more confidence in the Secret Service," Obama told USA Today and the Detroit Free Press.



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