WASHINGTON (AP) - A two-foot-long drone apparently flown by a hobbyist crashed on the White House grounds Monday in an extraordinary, if unintended, breach that raised fresh questions about the president's security - and a growing threat from the sky.
A man later came forward to say he was responsible for the mishap in the middle of the night and hadn't meant to fly the drone over the complex, officials said. "Initial indications are that this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device," said Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, were overseas when the quadcopter struck the southeast side of the grounds at about 3 a.m. Daughters Sasha and Malia stayed behind in Washington; it was not known whether they were at the mansion.
Officials believed the intrusion to be the first of its kind on the White House grounds, although not the first in the vicinity.
Low-flying drones like the quadcopter - a two-foot-long device lifted by four propellers - have become increasingly sophisticated and affordable instruments that authorities worry could also become tools for terrorists or others meaning to do harm.
Police, fire and other emergency vehicles swarmed the White House just after the crash, with several clustered near the southeast entrance to the grounds. The White House was dark and the entire perimeter was on lockdown until around 5 a.m. when those who work there were allowed inside.
I thought of the potential terror application of drones as soon as the first ones were introduced.
If FedEx or UPS are considering delivering packages with them, certainly Islamic terror cels are looking at similar potential with bombs.
Would that there were a president in the White House where I cared if he were assassinated. Perhaps Islamic terrorists haven't made such an attempt on the White House before now, because with this president, they know they'd only be making America safer and stronger by doing so.
Oh, I am guessing this news report was read avidly by any number of people.
I think the biggest problem is payload. They can't lift much. But it wouldn't surprise me if the roads surrounding airports were much more subject to scrutiny. It wouldn't take much to get one into a landing plane's jet intake.
I was almost hesitant to write this in case someone read it and it gave them ideas (do terrorists use the Internet as an R&D lab?) but it is such an obvious terrorism application that surely counter terrorism experts have thought of it and put into place countermeasures.
Before drones, though, I've heard it speculated that a small passenger plane could be remotely piloted with smart-bomb technology against a target like the White House, the Capitol, or a nuclear power station.
Some guy in the Bush years crashed a small plane into the White House. And the multiple tresspassers into the White House in the Obama years don't indicate that security now prevents that from recurring more fatally.
It's a long way from the days when people used to ride their horses to the White House uninvited to chat to George Washington.
One of the most enduring images I have in my head from 9-11 is that of the helicopter gunship hovering over the White House for hours on end. I assume there is one on the grounds or very nearby.
When some guy a few months ago was able to wander right in the front door of the White House, one has to wonder.
That's after years of uninvited guests crashing White House parties, planes crashing into the White House, and Secret Service agents bedding hookers in Colombia when they should have been preparing security for the president's arrival there. You'd think at some point they'd get serious about security, after so many embarassments.
Actually, they could go even lower-tech, and just hang out nearby and observe the Air Force One helicopter's route, pick a spot and wait in a van or apartment within blocks of the White House, and fire an RPG or surface-to-air missile at it as it flew over. Or multiple suicide bombers could throw grenades from multiple positions at the president during a public appearance.
I despise Al Qaida and ISIS, but looking from their perspective,if I were them my highest priority would be another successful domestic attack in the United States, for the street-cred of their organization. I'm frankly amazed that they haven't done so in the last 14 years. As powerful and well-funded as these groups are now (more powerful than on 9-11-2001), I fully expect them to at any time now, either in the U.S. or broader West.
It's a long way from the days when people used to ride their horses to the White House uninvited to chat to George Washington.
Washington didn't live in the White House. Learn some 'Murican history, Aussie! *spits tobacco into the corner*
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
Barack Obama clearly doesn't know that either. From Obama's NBC News softball interview that aired during halftime on Superbowl Sunday, on Feb 1 a few days ago.
Just imagine the media coverage if George W. or Dan Quayle had made a similar remark. But since the media is overwhelmingly liberal, and in particular adores Obama and flies cover for him, only Fox News and a few other conservative outlets have reported that glaring error.
Hey, it just aired during the Superbowl. It's not like anyone was watching.
Actually, they could go even lower-tech, and just hang out nearby and observe the Air Force One helicopter's route, pick a spot and wait in a van or apartment within blocks of the White House, and fire an RPG or surface-to-air missile at it as it flew over. Or multiple suicide bombers could throw grenades from multiple positions at the president during a public appearance.
I can't bring a fruit cake into the US without Customs seizing it, so no idea how someone could bring an RPG into the country unless you can buy them at Walmart.
I believe that John Adams was the first to reside in the Presidential Manor in DC. DC didn't become a 'working' capitol until 1800. Our government was mostly centered in Philadelphia until then.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
Actually, they could go even lower-tech, and just hang out nearby and observe the Air Force One helicopter's route, pick a spot and wait in a van or apartment within blocks of the White House, and fire an RPG or surface-to-air missile at it as it flew over. Or multiple suicide bombers could throw grenades from multiple positions at the president during a public appearance.
I can't bring a fruit cake into the US without Customs seizing it, so no idea how someone could bring an RPG into the country unless you can buy them at Walmart.
There are cases that have been in the news about immigrants in the U.S. purchasing automatic weapons in the U.S. by the hundreds, and shipping them back to resistance groups in their home countries in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, and other former Soviet republics.
There have also been many cases of Muslim terror cels caught in sting operations in the early stages of getting the materials to launch a terror attack inside the U.S. And some caught just after a successful attack, such as the Tasrnaev brothers in Boston, or Nadal Hasan murdering over a dozen soldiers as Fort Hood, Texas (the latter of which Obama infuriatingly minimized as "workplace violence".) And others even trying to use drones for such an attack.
And tim McVeigh and his pals, who did the Oklahoma City bombing with a large truck full of fertilizer, that blew up several city blocks and killed hundreds.
Quote:
Senor Doctor - really? I didn't know that.
thedoctor's correct. The White House was completed after George Washington finished his term as president, so our first president didn't live in the White House, and was thus unable to have ever brewed beer there.
