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Congress Suggests Moat, Electronic Fence To Protect White House

Posted by samzenpus on from the greased-monkeys-with-straight-razors dept.

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.”

7 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Moat? Electric fence? by Lilith's+Heart-shape · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why not just ring the White House with a fucking minefield?

    --

    I write sci-fi for metalheads

    1. Re:Moat? Electric fence? by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 5, Funny

      So long as it is effective in keeping the President from escaping, I'm all for it.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    2. Re:Moat? Electric fence? by plover · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Hey, Joe, now that we've finished surrounding the Capitol building lawns with mines, we've still got a bunch of extra mines. What should we do with them?"

      "They're not extra. They said ring the building, so the plans are to mine the walks and driveways, too. Maybe if they wrote the policy better, they'd have thought to add an access route."

      --
      John
    3. Re:Moat? Electric fence? by Bodhammer · · Score: 4, Funny

      "We have pass the map to find out what is in it" - is that what you mean?

      --
      "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
  2. Sharks by kwiecmmm · · Score: 5, Funny

    This moat needs sharks with lasers attached to their heads!!

  3. Virtual Fence? by aevan · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  4. Re:Shoot one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    If Obama were consistent, he'd let the people who illegally jump the White House fence live in the White House.