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White House Locked Down after Small Drone Found on Grounds

posted by LaminatorX on Tuesday January 27 2015, @12:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the death-from-above dept.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Police, fire and other emergency vehicles swarmed around the White House in the predawn hours, with several clustered near the southeast entrance to the mansion as the NYT reports that a small aerial drone has been found on the grounds of the White House. Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, are on a three-day visit to India, but their daughters, Malia and Sasha, are in Washington. The report of a drone came at a time when other threats to the president’s family or their home have led to concerns about security but according to a White House spokesman the drone poses no threat. “As the Secret Service has more information about their investigation, about what they’ve been able to learn about this, they’ll share more information on this,” says White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. After daylight, more than a dozen Secret Service officers fanned out in a search across the White House lawn as snow began to fall. They peered down in the grass and used flashlights to look through the large bushes that line the mansion's driveway.

The incident is the latest in a string of White House security breaches that have led to questions about Secret Service effectiveness. Four of the agency's highest-ranking executives were reassigned earlier this month. Former Director Julia Pierson's was forced to resign last year after a Texas man armed with a knife was able to get over a White House fence in September and run deep into the executive mansion before being subdued.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday January 27 2015, @01:44AM

    by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday January 27 2015, @01:44AM (#138387)

    I wonder if the man claiming the drone will get charged with something entirely unrelated to this incident just to punish him.

    Why would that be necessary? The airspace over the White House is a no-fly zone for anything not in a short list of official aircraft, and that would presumably include drones, so they can charge him with breaking those rules in order to punish him.

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday January 27 2015, @01:49AM

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday January 27 2015, @01:49AM (#138390) Journal

    Or, as I speculated above, jammer transmissions might have made it impossible to control his toy once it got so close to the whitehouse grounds. He might get off with a wrist slap and a forced NDA requirement.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 27 2015, @05:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 27 2015, @05:19PM (#138579)

    It isn't necessary, but it allows him to go all Godwin and try to sound all anti-establishment cool.