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Norton Wants Meeting with Secret Service Officials After Latest Jumper Breaches White House Fence

November 26, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, today said she was astonished that a man successfully jumped over the White House fence on Thanksgiving afternoon while the President and the first family were inside, and said that she will ask U.S. Secret Service leadership to meet with her early next week to discuss quick corrective action. Norton and other Members of Congress were briefed on the recently enhanced White House perimeter fence, shown samples of spikes that were to be added at the top of the taller fence and were assured the enhanced fence would stop a jumper. Moreover, the new design did not appear to altar the important authenticity of the historic fence.

Norton said in successfully scaling the latest version of the fence and holding up an American flag that he was able to carry with him, the jumper appeared to make a calculated jump to show up the Secret Service. Norton is particularly alert to fence jumpers and other disturbances near national monuments because nearly 20 million tourists visit the nation's capital each year. After 9/11, Norton saw many amateur and ineffective measures taken by the federal government to enhance security at major tourist sites, she believes, because it was the first attack on U.S. soil in recent memory. The Congresswoman has insisted that appropriate security can be developed without blocking the public. Norton said the jumper, Joseph Caputo, may have been harmless, although we do not yet know that, but today's action showed that a terrorist could have made the same jump.

"Even though it was a national holiday, the Secret Service showed it could move quickly to apprehend a fence jumper," Norton said. "However, the failure of the new White House perimeter fence, despite its recent modifications with spikes, is both baffling and discouraging. Unlike some measures necessary to ensure security, raising the height of the fence and fitting it with spikes seemed gratifyingly old school, obvious, and simple. Apparently it was not. Now, we need to get to the bottom of the problem once and for all. The place to start is learning who was consulted, why the current design was thought to be effective, what the flaws are, and what it will take to enhance the historic fence so that even a champion high jumper cannot scale it."