US Government Employee Crashes Small Drone at White House
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTJAN. 26,
2015
The drone that crashed onto the
White House grounds on Monday. Credit US Secret Service
WASHINGTON — The small drone
that crashed into a tree on the South Lawn of the White House early Monday
morning was operated by a government employee who has told the Secret
Service that he did not mean to fly it over the White House fence or
near the president’s residence, according to law enforcement officials.
The employee — who does not work for
the White House — has told the Secret Service that he was flying the drone for
recreational use at about 3 a.m. in the area around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
when he lost control of it.
So far, the Secret Service said it
believed the man’s account.
In a second statement about the
incident Monday afternoon, the Secret Service said an individual had called
them at about 9:30 Monday morning to report that he had been the one
controlling the drone when it crashed on the White House grounds.
“The individual has been interviewed
by Secret Service agents and been fully cooperative. Initial indications are
that this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device,” the
statement said.
White
House Says Device Poses No Threat
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary,
says that a small electronic device found on the White House lawn overnight is
not thought to pose a threat to anyone within the building.
Video by AP on Publish Date January
26, 2015. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.
The Secret Service also released a
photo of the partially broken drone on the ground. It appears to be a version
of the DJI Phantom Aerial UAV Drone Quadcopter that is sold on Amazon.com
starting at $448. Models equipped with HD cameras sell for as much as $1,258 on
the website.
The small, commercial quad copter
drone crashed on the southeast grounds, forcing a brief lockdown of the White
House complex, the Secret Service said.
Officials said in a statement that a
Secret Service officer posted on the south grounds of the White House “heard
and observed” the device, which was about two feet in diameter, at about 3:08
a.m.
Josh Earnest, the White House press
secretary, who is traveling with President Obama and Michelle Obama in India,
said the drone did not appear to be dangerous. Mr. and Mrs. Obama are on a
three-day visit to India, but their daughters, Malia and Sasha, are in
Washington.
“There is a device that has been
recovered by the Secret Service at the White House,” Mr. Earnest told
reporters. “The early indications are that it does not pose any sort of ongoing
threat to anybody at the White House.”
Officials said a drone like the one
that crashed on Monday probably could not carry enough explosives to
significantly damage the White House structure. But the president is often
outside the building inside the perimeter of the White House fence.
Mr. Obama and Denis McDonough, the
White House chief of staff, are known to walk outside when the weather is nice,
walking along the circular driveway that sits on the south side of the
building. Mr. Obama also frequently participates in ceremonies on the South
Lawn, just on the other side of fence that circles the complex.
The president’s helicopter, Marine One,
lands and takes off on the South Lawn, mere steps from the entrance to the
residence. Mr. Obama sometimes stands in front of the helicopter for several
minutes to make a statement to the press.
While drones are commonly thought of
in the context of missile-firing, unmanned vehicles used against terrorists,
many small flying drones are available on the commercial market and are used as
toys.
A hobbyist website, www.droneflyers.com,
lists “micro” sized drones that can fit into the palm of a hand for under $35
and “prosumer” models that are two feet wide and include live, high-definition
video cameras. One such device is currently listed at Amazon.com for $2,899.
A spokeswoman for the Secret Service
declined to say whether the agency had instituted any special protections
against drones that could carry bombs or other dangerous payloads over the
White House fence and toward the West Wing or the residence.
It remains unclear whether the drone
in question had a camera or if it was equipped to carry anything else.
“Since the investigation into this
matter is ongoing, there is no additional information at this time,” said
Nicole Mainor, a staff assistant for the office of public affairs at the
agency.
The report of the drone intrusion
came at a time when other threats to the president’s family or their home have
led to concerns about a lack of security at one of the most heavily guarded
buildings in Washington.
The Secret Service has been
criticized heavily for a number of recent security breaches, including an
incident where an intruder climbed the White House fence last year and reached
the interior of the White House before being caught by agents.
Four top Secret Service officials
were demoted earlier this month in the wake of a scathing report by the
Department of Homeland Security that revealed shortcomings in the way the
department and its staff protected the president’s home.
“Change is necessary to gain a fresh
perspective on how we conduct business,” Joseph P. Clancy, the agency’s interim
director, said in a written statement at the time. “I am certain any of our senior
executives will be productive and valued assets either in other positions at
the Secret Service or the department.”
The question of what to do about
commercial drones is increasingly bedeviling government officials, who fear the
devices could pose a threat to commercial aircraft. And because the drones can
be outfitted with cameras and can fly over fences, they raise questions about
privacy.
The Federal Aviation Administration,
which is responsible for regulating the airspace in the United States, last
year released a list of incidents involving drones, including near-misses with
commercial aircraft as well as reports of toys flying in restricted areas.
The list includes several incidents
involving drones that were flying close to the White House or the Capitol in
Washington.
Police detained an individual flying
a drone near the Capitol building on Aug. 29. On Aug. 19, police arrested
another person who had been flying a drone in Freedom Plaza, just blocks from
the White House. That person was arrested while climbing a tree to recover the
drone, according to the F.A.A. report.
On July 7, police questioned a
person who was flying a small, quad drone near the Lincoln Memorial. And on
July 3, police detained a person who was flying a drone at President’s Park,
just south of the White House fence.
The F.A.A. description for the July
3 incident said that a Secret Service patrol reported someone operating a
“quad-copter w/camera within P-56A” at an altitude of about 100 feet. The
description said the individual was detained and the drone was confiscated by
the Secret Service.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat
of New York, said Monday that the incident at the White House proved that the
F.A.A. should more heavily regulate the use of drones.
“Drones are an important new
technology that will boost businesses, aid in storm preparedness and recovery,
assist agricultural development and more,” Mr. Schumer said. “But rules to
protect the safety and privacy of the American people must keep pace, and I am calling
on the FAA and OMB to get these long-delayed regulations on the books.”
Michael D. Shear and Michael S.
Schmidt reported from Washington and Peter Baker contributed reporting from New
Delhi.