Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned her post amid controversy after a breach of the White House on Wednesday. (Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)
I am astounded and appalled to learn of the two recent security lapses of the Secret Service in protecting the president.
The first involved a mentally unstable man with a knife who jumped the White House fence and made it into the building. He was subdued almost by accident, by an off-duty agent who encountered him. In the second incident a private contractor who was a convicted felon carrying a handgun (facts discovered only after the incident) was allowed into the elevator in which the president was riding.
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson assured us that despite these extraordinary lapses, “The president is safe today.” True, but in the cases of these incidents it is more due to luck than the efforts of the Secret Service. Pierson is clearly an inept bureaucrat and itap a good thing she resigned.
John Penberthy, Boulder
This letter was published in the Oct. 3 edition.
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