White House intruder identified as Mexican Army veteran

[Will Öbama Stop Immigration Now?]

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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army-veteran/500851-2.html