Salahi's Shaking Hands with the President

The biggest danger to any security is the power of a pretty smile. Put a pretty smile together with an attractive face, an air of belonging and a good portion of acting talent and most security people forget procedures. The Salahi couple that crashed Obama’s first state dinner must have plenty of these attributes. Looking at pictures from the event and especially the one where Michaele Salahi shakes a smiling¬† president’s hand makes me wonder if the Secret Service has intentionally opened some loopholes in the peripheral security circles that are supposed to prevent this.

Claims from the secret service that the president was never in danger are beyond ludricrous, even as an excuse. Magnetometers don’t have the ability to detect liquids. The handshake alone could have been terminal as many insiders know, not to mention the possibility of self sacrifice by the perpetrators.
The Salahi couple must be exceptional performers if they crashed this event without invitation and without any other innocent motivation than to prove that it can be done.

A lifetime ago I learned that pretty faces and pretty smiles are the first essentials to break through a security line up. The German Baader Meinhoff terror organization as well as the Brigati Rossi in Italy were infamous for using that technique to gain access. Another successful technique to gain access was to use the pretense of writing a book or producing a documentary. And combining the two was an invincible technique.

Secret Service Concerned and Embarrassed

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan stated in a release that the agency that protects the president is “deeply concerned and embarrassed” that procedures were not followed. Than Mr. Sullivan states that: “The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined that established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list,” Sullivan said. “Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely. That failing is ours.¬† As our investigation continues, appropriate measures have been taken to ensure this is not repeated,” Sullivan said in a written statement.

I guess that means that the officers at the “initial checkpoint” are fired, which of course does not solve anything except an increase in unemployment. And what’s more, White House state dinners in the near future are going to be increasingly annoying for invited guests, something like airport security.
Questionable procedure here is obviously that the first line of security, the “initial checkpoint” had the unspoken authority to clear attendees to the event. That is were the looks and performing talent of the Salahi couple got them into the door. That’s where their obvious self assurance and “looking the part” got them in. Any other checkpoint after that was just a welcoming formality.
Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said officers at the checkpoint had a clipboard with names of the invited guests. Even though the Salahi’s names weren’t on it, they were allowed to proceed. The officers should have called someone on the White House staff or Secret Service personnel before allowing them past the checkpoint, Mackin said.

Clipboards with Invited Guest Names?

Should have, could have, would have; the book taught me a long time ago to look beyond a pretty face and a pretty smile. What’s even more disturbing to me is that the Secret Service in this age of technology is still using a Clip board to verify validity of an invitation. How about access to an instant picture of the invited guest to make sure they are who they claim they are? Maybe some instant background information popping up on a computer screen that would easily identify validity of the invitation.

The ‘glitch’ that happened here, smells like more than not following protocol or a bout of laziness inside of the Secret Service.

So maybe instead of ordering a review of Secret Service practices, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Edolphus Towns, should widen the net a little and include “insider facilitation”.

As for the Salahi’s, Virginia winemakers and DC socialites, and their potential prosecution for allegedly knowingly and willfully falsifying statements on matters within the federal government’s jurisdiction, if it was an innocent prank to prove that it could be done, my kudos for proving once again that incompetence reins in the matter of protecting the nation and its leaders and people; a thought that is disconcerting, in spite of all the security organizations’ claims to the contrary.

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