I'm sure we've all heard the news by now (heck, it was even on our local news) about the two idiots that decided it would be a good idea to crash the Obamas' first State Dinner. Appropriately, people displayed outrage that the couple was able to get that close to our first & second families as well as plenty of other people they probably otherwise wouldn't have been close to. Well, the Secret Service is taking it seriously (as they should). I've never been one of the people who's really concerned about the First Family because I thought the Secret Service was protecting them. Maybe I should have been a little more worried. Maybe the one good thing that can come out of this is the Secret Service will be much more diligent in the future. It's one thing for this to happen once, it's another for it to happen twice.
Full statement over the fold
The Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner on Tuesday, November 24.
The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list.
Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely. That failing is ours.
The Secret Service safely processed more than 1.2 million visitors last year to the White House complex. In the last several years, the agency has successfully protected more than 10,000 sites for the President, Vice President and other Secret Service protectees, screening more than 7 million people through magnetometers at campaign related events, with more than 1 million during the Inauguration alone.
Even with these successes, we need to be right 100% of the time. While we have protocols in place to address these situations, we must ensure that they are followed each and every time.
As our investigation continues, appropriate measures have been taken to ensure this is not repeated.
The men and women of the U.S. Secret Service are committed to providing the highest level of security for those we are charged to protect, and we will do whatever is necessary to accomplish this mission.
Source
(Emphasis is mine)
Even if the President was under no real threat from the crashers, the director is right, it shouldn't have happened. Meanwhile, I still think the couple needs to go to jail, or at the very least have to deal with a hefty fine.