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Congress Suggests Moat, Electronic Fence To Protect White House
PolygamousRanchKid writes Acting Secret Service director Joseph Clancy on Wednesday faced a number of tough questions from the House Judiciary Committee about the fence jumper who made it deep into the White House. But along with the tough questions, Clancy fielded a couple eyebrow raising suggestions on how to better protect the president's home. "Would a moat, water six feet around, be kind of attractive and effective?" Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., asked with trepidation. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, asked: “Would you be in favor of removing the fence around the White House and having, maybe, a virtual or electronic fence around it?” Clancy liked the moat idea better than the electric fence. “My knee-jerk reaction to that would be no, sir,” he told Gohmert. “Partly because of the number of tourists that come up Pennsylvania Avenue and come up to that area.”
Why not just ring the White House with a fucking minefield?
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Shoot one or two of the fence jumpers. The frequency of fence jumping will drop to almost nothing. Then, when some knucklehead does jump the fence you'll know it's a genuine threat and you may open fire on that one as well.
Bullets are cheaper than moats and cyber fence thingies.
These gators are the best, we promise! We also sell pit bulls with AIDS for slightly more money. They can act in concert to deter and stop any future incursions. Call now!
Just need this.
(BTW, I thought for several years that particular episode was the best thing ever on television to that point, until I realized it was blatant rip-off -- excuse me, homage -- of 2001.)
You better hope you make it over, because anything else means you're toast, literally.
The moat would need to be heated to keep the alligators happy. Actually, mag-locks on the doors that get engaged on reports of someone on the grounds would cost a lot less.
...is a fearless tourist's lazy river ride.
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
If you're worried about fence jumpers, the easy solution is barbed/razor wire around your fence but making the fence taller is the most level-headed solution.
The razor wire would probably be too easy to take symbolically in all kinds of uncomfortable directions, though.
Or theyâ(TM)ll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they want alligators in the moat! They'll never be satisfied, and I understand that. That's politics. But the truth is the measures we've put in place are getting results."
â" President Obama in El Paso, TX
This moat needs sharks with lasers attached to their heads!!
Stop being assholes, lying, and cheating the citizens and maybe there wouldn't be any threats to the White House.
Ring the place in thin, tough trip wire just below knee level. Widely distribute the gruesome images of the next fence jumping idiot with his epidermis peeled to the bone and this fad will end.
I for one welcome our new neo-feudalist overlords.
people would have picnics on the white house lawn?
Install some trip wires to make you fall into the bushes and that is that.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
This sounds more and more like the typical lion/tiger/man-eating beast enclosure at the zoo - a high fence and a moat.
Just stick signs up on the fence saying "Do NOT feed the POTUS!" and "The POTUS in its natural habitat", perfect!
How 'bout a lasergrid fence? A 10 kW carbon dioxide laser should do the job nicely.
Jefferson used to complain about the long line of people at the White House who were there to see him - most of them looking for a job hand-out, but some with legitimate issues for him to deal with.
Perhaps Congress could start by dissolving the enivronment that has caused so many people to want to do antisocial things like harming a President, who is mostly supposed to be a CEO of the government, and occasionally lead a defensive war against the country.
Oh, nm, that's just crazy-talk. Might as well fill the moat with hunter-killer boats from Lockheed.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Is that some kind of new-fangled hi-tech fence technology?
Or just an editor who's in dire need of a spell-checker, and/or proof-reader?
-AC
LMAO, my captcha is "accuracy" -- hahahahaha!
I suppose it makes sense, with laws painting us all as virtually terrorists.
That said, I like Punji stake pits as an idea. Or high-tension trampolines that snap-release and launch plumetters back into the air. Hook it to a live web-stream.
Mr Obama just BUILD that WALL.
I suggest a democracy.
Perhaps Congress could start by dissolving the enivronment that has caused so many people to want to do antisocial things
Between 2000 and now there have been 14 "intruders" at the White House. Only one of which actually broke into the building. These intruders include a toddler who squeezed through the fence and a couple who crashed a Sate dinner. That is an average of less than one per year who had antisocial intent. From a population of 360 million less than one per year is not many.
This poor guy was simply looking for work in order to be able to support his family back home. All he wanted was a better life.. I'm sure he's a hardworking, industrious, salt of the earth type... the type who made this country great!
Amnesty, a drivers license, and a green card folks. That's what this man needs, not a prison term.
Seriously, a news for nerds site can't get the word electronic correct in a article headline? Amazing editing going on there, Slashdot.
Seriously if the politicians are so afraid of "the masses" then maybe they should start actually representing those masses like they're supposed to.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I think it would help to put large sculptures and the like all about the White House lawn such that a sniper would have a huge problem targeting anyone. The threat of an attack from a quarter mile or more away is probablt greater than an entry and close range incident.
Can someone explain to me how a virtual fence could do anything? Is Congress going to pass a law saying everyone has to wear a collar at all times? This sounds like someone trying to create more pork.
So when did these august Congresscritters aquire expertise in installation security? I have no opinion on whether a moats would be a good or bad idea, but surely the Congressmen have no idea either.
Personal security everywhere has a few conflicting objectives.
- Protect the person from physical threats
- Do not appear intimidating to the general public
- React quickly to perceived threats
- Do not overreact to perceived threats
Sure you could put a concrete wall around the White House and shoot anyone who climbed over but that would be very bad.
This incident has been blown way out of proportion. Lets look at what really happened.
1. I guy jumps a fence.
2. He runs across the lawn. He was seen at this point and an alarm was triggered (the problem is that the alarm was muted for some reason)
3. He enters an unlocked door (Which would have been locked had the alarm sounded).
4. He runs past a startled security guard (The one who would have locked the door if the alarm had sounded).
5. He runs up the stairs and across a long room.
6. He is tackled by a counterassault agent.
The only people he encountered were security personnel and he did not damage anything and harmed no one.
Lets look at what contributed to the incident.
1. He was not shot as he had no visible weapons.
2. The door to remain unlocked because the alarm was muted. The article claims that is was muted on the orders of the Usher's office
3. The President was in the process of leaving the building. During movement security is concentrated around the president as that is when he is most vulnerable. That left the front lawn less protected as there was less there to protect.
How to fix the issue?
1. Never mute the alarms
2. Connect the front door lock to the alarm so it locks when the alarm goes off.
Those are simple solutions to a small problem.
Mr Gonzalez is a Iraq War veteran with mental health issue. Though he had a knife on him he never brandished it and no one knew of it's existence until he was arrested. What do you think the comments would have been if it turned out that an unarmed Iraq War veteran with PTSD was shot dead while trying to enter the White House? So the Secret Service has to choose between being damned for letting someone into an an empty area of the White House or damned for shooting an unarmed Iraq War veteran with PTSD. You choose.
We have been spending millions of dollars a year on Secret Service protection for the president. Instead of doing something stupid, maybe we should just fire all the current agents and hire some people who are competent.
Two words: Tiger Pits.
What next? Will the President fart in our general direction?
I'm in favor of this.
Do what the Brits do: create some fun and fanciful traditional-like uniform for the guards, and post 2 guards near the front gate, 2 near the front door, and one on each corner of the building.
Maybe something like this:
http://www.halloweencostumes.c...
(Without the boyish face, though.)
Table-ized A.I.
I love this quote from this article;
“I worry about her whole approach,” said Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, who is the chairman of a subcommittee that on Monday scheduled a hearing on the incident for next week. “I do question the director’s leadership. This is a place where we can never, ever make a mistake.”
This just shows how little Representative Jason Chaffetz actually knows about personal security. Security Agents are human and will make mistakes. Security systems are designed to take that into consideration by designing security in layers. One or more layers may be breached due to mistakes but unless the person being secured is harmed then the system worked. Lets look at what happened.
1. He climbed the fence. While a security layer it is designed to deter entry not prevent entry. Layer worked as designed.
2. He ran across the lawn and was seen by a security agent who sounded the alarm. Security layer worked as designed.
3. He opened the door. Layer failed due to alarm being muted.
4. He ran past startled security guard. Layer failed due to alarm being muted.
5. He ran up some stairs and was tackled by counter assault agent. Security layer successful.
There were probably a few more security layers between that point and the President. The only mistakes I see are the alarm being muted and the door not being automatically locked by the alarm. Would you rather have snipers shooting anyone who climbs over the fence?
I think you are on to something here....non-lethal and entertaining. Helps keeps the president safe and is good fun in the process.
Perhaps the moat is something to build inside the White-house fence, but then fill it with balls, and you have the national ball pit. We could mount automatic sentry turrets on the fence that are armed with Nerf ammo, with the idea that anyone trying to jump the fence will get hit with a barrage of Nerf darts as a warning.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
How is your new fledgling monarchy working out for you guys?
Boiling oil, and catapults, oh and I'm sure the kids would LOVE the trebuchet!
I live in Tucson, Arizona. We have one air-force base and one army national guard base. Both have a moat around them and a fence on both sides of the moat, and a bridge to the inspection station.
Here's a picture of the bridge over the moat.
Note the lack of water. Tucson, Arizona. It's a dry heat.
If it's good enough for military bases, it's good enough for the President. Also Congress. And if they continue to perform so well in representing us, they can be forced to swim it.
E
Just move the president to Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom. No more fanciful than what passes for leadership inside the White House.
We should also have armed guards on the outside with orders to shoot anyone who tries to exit the White House grounds. Only then will we be safe.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Have any of you seen the "cattleguards" in the West that are merely a set of yellow lines, spaced, say, 10 cm apart, across the pavement perpendicular to the road? Cattle are so familiar with REAL cattleguards that this abstract depiction of one discourages them.
What is this thread doing on /. anyway? Maybe is was the idea of an Eletronic fence, but why here?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Postlady: When did you get a pool?
Lois: Oh, it's a moat. I know it's silly but my husband thinks our family needs extra protection now that we're rich.
Postlady: Does it work?
Lois: Well... it does keep the Black Knight at bay.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
...hunters, in deer stands, with authority to shoot anyone caught jumping a fence.
How about not acting in a way to attract the behavior in question?
If not, can we keep Obama inside, as opposed to keeping bad guys (citizens, patriots) out?
This is Slashdot, so new we are rewarded with a litany of "look how stupid congress is" stories.
The fact is, the conversation is clearly brainstorming, more of a signal that lateral thinking was welcome, as the secret service clearly hasn't thought if anything effective.
-Styopa
The closest English-speaking nation to the USA is the UK, if only separated by a similar language.
From what I understand of UK, their monarch lives in rather large mansions that tend to have little more than fences as visible protection . The UK Prime Minister has lived at #10 Downing Street for a number of decades now with visible protection appearing to be little more than police officers.
So it is a very sad commentary on the state of civil affairs and government within the USA that the President's residence needs increased protective measures of such a visible nature .
On the other hand, such measures in history are general signs that the government and/or ruler of a country is trying to hold on to power in the face of an increasingly unhappy electorate/populace.
The USA Federal Government with its facilities as the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security with help from Department of Commerce and Department of Agriculture and Department of Health much enact a program to build IRON SKY and IRON GROUND, a dome above and a dome below ground to shield and protect the President of the United States of America from the citizens of the United States of America,
Time is short. Action must be taken and quick.
IRON SKY and IRON GROUND must be built regardless of cost! regardless of the deaths of the contractors and workers, regardless of the deaths of Federal Employees and regardless of the deaths of the worthless legal citizens of the U.S.A.
The Culmination of IRON SKY and IRON GROUND will fulfill the most beautiful hopes for the Arian Race by the saint general Adolf Hitler.
Obama has the money to fulfill the Great Hitler's Wishes for Humanity.
Let Obama Live.
Let Obama Reign.
Let Obama Kill the Virus.
Let Obama Kill.
and immediately thought "Yeah, with sharks with fucking lasers mounted on their heads." ::Doctor_Evil_Laugh::
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
I think pouring boiling oil from the roof would be effective. I mean would you try to make a run for it knowing that they would not just stop you but actually try to pour boiling oil on you? hell no.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Can this virtual fence has virtual razor wire and sniper towers?
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
It's much more economical and efficient. And sanitary too.
Let Obama Kill and Be His Kenyan.
Is it too late to vote? I vote for a moat! Maybe something like it's a small world !
In tech, we solve single-point-of-failure issues with redundancy.
You guys should have not one, but several reserve presidents, and a few reserve headquarters, and if one of them gets blown up, just don't make it a big deal.
That sounds like sarcasm, but really, it's not. Just framed a bit tongue-in-cheek. But how often do you hear members of the senate being targets of assassination attempts? The senate is as important as the president, but thanks to using a highly distributed system with extreme redundancy, they are far less interesting targets.
But I guess we as human beings still have minds from 50,000 years ago and we want to see a leader to our tribe. The concept of shared leadership is brilliant, but too advanced for our stone-age brains.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Who cares if someone attacks the leader or members of the corrupt and authoritarian police state in America. How is it even relevant to post about security measures to isolate the dictator from the subjects here?
I say, take down all the fences, and if the leader has anything to fear from the people, is is through their own misdeeds.
Great idea!
Over here in Switzerland, the President position is chiefly as a figurehead. The post gets rotated amongst the SEVEN members of the Swiss "caucus", and you only get it for one year at a stint.
Killing the president would mean NOTHING other than a criminal act like any other, and the sad loss of a leading contributor to the public well-being (I know strange way to think about career politicians, but after living here for ten years, I'm convinced that's what they ACTUALLY do here.)
So - just calm down and redesign your "democracy". It's easier than you might think.
Bear in mind, though, that one party here is DESPERATELY trying to change the situation to create personality politics like you currently have. A populist party privately financed by rich pricks. Political finance here is a verboten topic, but for some odd reason, it still seems to largely work.
I mean we gotta protect our wealthy and powerful right? What better way to do it as to strap 3 dozen motion triggered vulcan cannons to the fence? I'd also like to suggest flame throwers, acid sprinklers, genetically engineered dogs with 3 heads and to top things of (if all were to fail)... a dozen ICBMS pointed at the civilian population to ensure complete death.. err I mean security.
Fantastic. Solve 21st century USA security problem with medieval British know-how.
But please, for everyone's sake, put in a drawbridge and portcullis? And defend it with archers and fiery balls of hay?
Awesome.
I'd like to hear that guy speak some more. I need some good laughs.
Giant robots with cute Japanese teenage girls inside.
A stinky ditch full of rancid Potomac water, sounds daunting enough.
How about Raspberry Jam Cannons and cardboard scary dragons to frighten off the peasants...
Maybe an electronic fence and a moat around congress to protect the American people from their elected officials.
Maybe the true is we have not heard much about breeches until Obama became a very unpopular President. Let's put a electronic fence at the boarder with Mexico.
Would probably be as effective as what we have now. So many want to hurt American's but our boarders are so porous its scary.
MONEY
There's already toddlers squeezing through the fence ... perhaps Rep. Gohmert's intent is "cull the herd" by having a moat.
It is going to be like virtual fence for your dog. Everyone gets shock collars. Anyone who crosses the line is shocked. Also no barking.
Will the moat have a drawbridge and flaming buckets of oil to drop on visitors too? Maybe a torture chamber in the Whorehouse basement for parties.
The Knights Hospitalers (I think, could have been Templars) had a fortress that was never conquered. Attackers would be bottlenecked, relative to defenders, were forever being harassed on the flanks and faced numerous blind corners.
Simply build a reproduction of this fortress around the White House. They can build a moat around it, if they like. Ringed by an electric fence. Oh, the moat needs sharks with lasers. Any suggestion for shark species?
The great thing about this is that the White House can remain a tourist attraction. Everyone loves castles, and taking blindfolded and handcuffed tourists through the maze of twisty little passages (all alike) would surely be a massive draw. BDSM is big business these days.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Wasn't that done in User Friendly?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
But they gotta fill the fucker with gators and poe-ranna and flying fucking sharks. Also make the water poison, and electrified.
"If you love someone, set them free. If they come home, set them on fire." - George Carlin
Would that be with or without Alligators?
If they make to the Oval Office, they get to join the cabinet!
Invenio via vel creo
To keep the zombies out during next year's fema disaster of course.
Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.
".....But a fortress will not be able to protect a prince if he is hated by his subjects. The issue is not whether a prince should build a fortress. Rather, a prince should not put all his trust in a fortress, neglecting the attitudes of his people."
"and having, maybe, a virtual or electronic fence around it?" Does anyone have any idea what he meant by a virtual fence? Should we take down the one that's there and just pretend like there's a fence there?
You're missing the other critical failures: It's a lot easier to hang the Secret Service out to dry than and make political fodder of it, than it is to for the politicians to admit they've been shafting the vital security and protection agencies to fund boondoggles like TSA and NSA.
A moat is excessively expensive, really unnecessary, an eyesore, and is still not going to really stop or hinder a marine who is determined. Furthermore, the White House is supposed to be a place where people from the public can indeed come; it's not supposed to be a castle or an ivory tower. It should only be fort knox during those times when the president is home.
As for ensuring the president's security; I suggest an additional wider perimeter with a triple-layer fence, with all vehicles and persons required to be searched/checked for weapons etc, and restrict access to all nearby buildings as well.
There should be multiple 24x7 "spotters" high up when the president is in the vicinity, and video analytics, scoping the entire grounds outside for potential intruders and sounding an alarm.
There should be additional locks on the doors and teargas traps which can be activated remotely during an attempted breakin.
...would be to stop p*ssing that many people off. Congress hasn't done a thing for the past two years and the President isn't fairing much better. If government and Congress would start doing their jobs rather than having one side suggest something and the other side only saying "No" to everything much less people would be motivated to run past guards busy updating their FB status. After all, positions like these are intentionally called "public office". We already have enough secrecy and walling in in DC.