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White House fence jumper detained by Secret Service

Monday, 20 April 2015 8:40 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 20 April 2015 8:43 AM ]

A US Secret Service team works along the second, temporary fence on the north side of the White House March 18, 2015 in Washington, D.C.

The US Secret Service has arrested a person who jumped a White House fence while carrying a package that was examined and found to be harmless.

The fence-climber, whose name or gender was not released, was arrested immediately after jumping the south side of the White House complex late Sunday night, said Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary.

The person was carrying a suspicious package that was examined to be harmless, Leary said.

Last month, two drunken Secret Service agents drove a government car through police tape and barricades while under influence.

The agents, a top member of Obama's protective detail and a senior supervisor in the Washington field office, were returning from a late-night party at a Chinatown bar about eight blocks from the White House.

They drove their government car through an area which was being investigated by police over a suspicious package.

The Secret Service has been rocked by a series of high profile security lapses and damaging revelations over the past several months, leading to a shake-up in the troubled agency's leadership.

According to a report by the Washington post, it took the Secret Service five days to discover that a man had shot seven bullets at the White House in 2011.

Another security lapse occurred on September 16, when an armed security contractor with a criminal record was allowed to accompany Obama in an elevator during his trip to Atlanta.

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