Seeking to save money amid budget constraints since 2012, the Secret Service decided not to fully staff its uniformed division, which is tasked with protecting the White House complex. The agency is authorized to employ 1,420 officers but has been down between 40 and 100.
[…]Filling vacancies has been difficult in part because the agency director agreed in 2012 and 2013 to cancel all but three Secret Service academy classes. The classes, which handle 24 students at a time, create a ready pipeline of recruits — but the cancellations have restricted the flow.
Morale has plummeted as uniform officers are routinely asked to work on their off days; they complain of not being paid proper overtime for the extra shifts.
I blame Obama.
balconesfault
End Game? A privatized Secret Service, run by Wackenhut or somesuch. I thought people would have figured this out by now.
The real goal is when they actually manage to outsource the job of President itself …
Amir Khalid
I expect the Republican party will be all for restoring the Secret Service’s budget allocation, once there’s a President from their party to be protected.
C.V. Danes
@balconesfault:
I thought they already had. Doesn’t he report directly to Lloyd Blankfein?
C.V. Danes
But hey, we’ve got an extra trillion bucks laying around to upgrade our atomic weapons so that, you know, we can deter the terrorists by threatening to nuke them or, er, something like that.
MattF
@balconesfault: My guess is that they’ll just reduce the White House budget to zero– that way only the ‘makers’ will be able to afford the position.
Professor
This is what is known as ‘False economies’, where the cost of the damage done far outweighs the benefits achieved with these Republican engineered cuts to stifle the smooth operation of the Obama administration. You see what happened in Benghazi etc. The rest as they say is history.
Tommy
Wow I didn’t know this. I think I am stating the obvious we should maybe protect the POTUS, regardless of party. Pretty sure our nation can afford that.
D58826
Congress Critter P. King is demanding a House hearting so they can find another scapegoat to burn at the stake.
Of course we can’t afford to protect the White House, after all we have to buy all those bombs and boots that Butters and MCNutts want to spend in Iraq/Syria/and just about everywhere else on the face of the planet.
RSR
Of course, any failures of security are proof that government can’t do anything right.
mai naem mobile
If anything happened to any president, Lloyd Blankfein would just look at it as an investment opportunity because the markets would crash for a few days.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@balconesfault:
The real goal is when they actually manage to outsource the job of President itself …
Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II, for example…
Tommy
@RSR: I am not saying anything remotely original here, but of course that is their goal. To attempt to break government by starving it of funding so they can point a finger and say, “look government doesn’t work. We told you.”
My Congressperson is a Blue Dog. The RNC is blanketing the airwaves with ads about how government is bad. Obamacare is the worse thing in the world. The Republican will decrease government and spending and I think we’ll have puppies and rainbows.
Amir Khalid
Bruce Springsteen is 65 years old today. That may be worth a music post.
Elmo
@balconesfault:
Private security, contracted through DHS, is already responsible for the protection of nearly every Federal building and office in the country. Energy and a few other agencies also contract for security directly.
Amir Khalid
A question for the sharp-dressed men of the Juicitariat: Would you wear to work a onesie disguised as a suit?
(I fond the link at Esquire’s Style blog.)
ETA: Is it easy to dry-clean?
Mike in NC
Surprised that Halliburton didn’t get the White House security contract under you know who.
Kay (not the front-pager)
Well, well. Just as I thought. I wish they would explicitly mention sequestration. I think a lot of people need to have the damage caused by sequestration spelled out for them.
Elmo
@Mike in NC:
Halliburton doesn’t do that work domestically. It would be more a G4S gig.
Patrick
We could afford to spend $2 billion per week on a most useless attack on Iraq, yet we apparently can’t afford to protect our President/Commander-in-Chief. I am so sick of our useless Congress.
Calouste
@Tommy: Of course POTUS should be protected. Democrat usurpers are a different matter though.
Patrick
@Tommy:
Do these people ever realize that our military is part of our government? I never hear them claim that our military is bad.
Joseph Nobles
Oh, Christ, you buried the lede on that story, which starts out by revealing a classified study showing the vulnerability of the White House to people rushing the fence. 8 or more at various places and anything at all could happen.
And that confirmation is now IN THE PAGES AND ON THE WEBSITE OF THE WASHINGTON POST.
Jesus Christ. They’re going to have to build a new residence and make the White House a museum.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Patrick: No, they don’t. Hey, have you ever noticed that soldiers who need post-deployment care magically transform from heroes to moochers?
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826: I do not favor burning scapegoats.
I favor burning asswipes like P. King and all teatard scum.
jl
Thanks, I am just shocked. That story cannot be true.
Maybe let Biden pack heat around the WH. Knowing ol’ Joe is prowling with his trusty over and under double gauge, that he WILL shoot, will solve all problems. He’d do it as a free extra in addition to regular VP duties, I bet.
JaneE
Were these the sequestration cuts? Remember that the Republicans at the time wanted more Secret Service members giving White House tours so as to not inconvenience their visiting constituents? What they want is to eliminate protection for the President Obama. I hope the Democrats make them own this breach, and every other one.
schrodinger's cat
Are sequestration cuts still in effect?
Tone In DC
@schrodinger’s cat:
According to this link I just found, they are still in effect. I have a feeling the cuts could worsen. After the last two congresses, the g00per race to the bottom has accelerated.
hamptonroads.com/2014/08/week-reviewvfa81-sequester
Jim Reed
I don’t like Obama. The one good quality he has is that he isn’t Romney. There is a lot I can and do blame him for. But I am curious why does Mistermix blame Obama for this?
The budget cuts in security for the white house and the state dept (think Bengahzi) were a republican creation.
Barbara
@Jim Reed: I think it was sarcasm, Mistermix knows as you do where the blame really lies.