Security lapses found at George HW Bush’s home

The Secret Service delayed repairs to a 20-year-old alarm at a home of President George H.W. Bush for more than a year, according to The Washington Post, a decision that prompted fears about the safety of the former president. 

While the broken alarm at his home in Houston was fixed in late 2014, after at least 13 months, an inspector general’s report reviewed by the Post adds that alarms at Bush’s home in Maine still need to be repaired.

{mosads}During the wait for repairs, an extra agent patrolled the property. But the newspaper reports that some in the Secret Service questioned whether that adequately made up for the absence of an alarm.

A top official with the Department of Homeland Security told the newspaper that technology upgrades and security for the people under protection and their homes, including the White House, is a “top priority” for new Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy.

“To not replace a failing system for more than a year is wholly and totally unacceptable,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told the Post. Chaffetz and the committee’s top Democratic member, Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), added in a joint statement that the news “adds to the growing list of significant concerns Congress has had with the management of the Secret Service.” 

The Secret Service has been dogged by controversies. Last year, a number of people scaled the White House fence, with one making it well inside the building before he was caught. In March, two officers who may have been drinking drove through a White House barrier and disrupted an investigation into a suspicious package.