Fuck this: Secret Service messes up and we pay the price? No way. [View all]

[cali]

The Secret Service screwed up Friday night. In a mind-boggling breach of security, a troubled former Army sniper named Omar J. Gonzalez allegedly jumped the fence at the White House, sprinted to the front door and walked in. It wasn’t until he got inside that a Secret Service officer guarding the door stopped him.

And now the Secret Service — which hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory the past few years — wants us to pay for its mistake, to once again intrude on more public space and make suspects out of millions of visitors, residents and office workers who come near the White House every day. To further encroach on the country’s most important values: our openness and our freedom.

The security gurus think they might want to keep people off the sidewalks around the nation’s most famous residence. Or maybe screen tourists a block away from the White House. They want to Anschluss even more public space to expand The Perimeter around 1600 Pennsylvania, amping up the feeling of hostility, fear and paranoia that already pervades the heart of our nation.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/secret-service-messes-up-and-we-pay-the-price-no-way/2014/09/22/3c81ded0-4256-11e4-9a15-137aa0153527_story.html