Washington: The man accused of getting inside the White House after scaling a fence is a veteran who was awarded a medal for his service in Iraq and retired due to disability, the Army said on Sunday.
Authorities have identified the intruder from Friday night's shocking incident as Omar J Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas, and the Army said he had served from 1997 to 2003, when he was discharged, and then again from 2005 to December 2012, when he retired.
The military does not provide details about a soldier's disability due to privacy considerations. The Secret Service tightened security outside the White House after the embarrassing breach in which the intruder carrying a knife climbed the fence, ran across the lawn and entered the building before agents stopped him. The first family was away from the White House at the time.
Increased surveillance and more officer patrols are among the measures that Secret Service Director Julia Pierson ordered. She also began an investigation into what went wrong.
A member of the House Homeland Security Committee said today that it was astonishing, at a time of concerns about terrorist attacks, that "someone could actually get into the White House without being stopped."
Republican Rep Peter King said the intrusion was "absolutely inexcusable" and he expected congressional hearings into the incident at one of the world's most heavily secured buildings.
"This demands a full investigation, an investigation as to what happened, why it happened and what's being done to make sure it never happens again," he told "Fox News today."
Officials first said the fact that the intruder, identified as Omar J Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas, appeared to be unarmed may have been a factor in why agents at the scene didn't shoot or have their dogs pursue him before he made it inside.
But a criminal complaint issued late Friday revealed Gonzalez had a small folding knife with a 9-centimeter serrated blade with him at the time of his arrest.
At a hearing late yesterday afternoon in DC Superior Court, the assistant public defender representing Gonzalez said Gonzalez had no convictions or arrest warrants, had tested negative yesterday for drug use and had been in the military for 18 years, including three tours in Iraq, according to The Washington Post.
"This is someone who has provided service to his country and shown commitment in his life," said the lawyer, Margarita O'Donnell, as she tried unsuccessfully to get Gonzalez released.
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