What is it about the White House that attracts the confused, the angry, the unhinged? And why, against all odds, do they so often try to penetrate the most heavily guarded residence on earth?

The latest is a homeless Army veteran, Omar J. Gonzalez, who jumped over the White House’s perimeter fence Friday, scrambled across the North Lawn and actually made it through an unlocked door before guards stopped him. He had a knife and an urgent message for the president: “The atmosphere was collapsing.”

In response, the Secret Service is now mulling even more onerous security procedures than it already has. It may prevent the public from using the sidewalk surrounding the White House, add yet more security barriers or force visitors to submit to screening a block away from the entrance.

This is a mistake.

The officers who guard the White House have elaborate measures in place to stop intruders. They didn’t work very well in the case of Gonzalez, who, prosecutors say, had 800 rounds of ammunition in his car. A canine team that was supposed to release a guard dog didn’t; reaction time to the alarm bells was evidently slow. Even so, Gonzalez was stopped before he did any harm. A rooftop sniper reportedly had him in his sights the whole time. And President Obama wasn’t there – he had taken off for Camp David minutes before – and wouldn’t have been in much danger if he was.

So while this is an incident that requires investigation, it isn’t indicative of a powerful new threat or a systemic security failure. Making the White House even less accessible to the public than it already is – in reaction to an isolated intrusion by a clearly troubled man – isn’t just a matter of inconvenience. In an open and democratic society, it’s a matter of serious symbolic significance.


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