# Report: Armed contractor with criminal record was on elevator with Obama at CDC



## Road Guy (Oct 1, 2014)

Im as ready as just about anyone for Barry to be retired but not this way... what is up with the secret service?

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national/report-armed-contractor-criminal-record-was-elevat/nhYmD/

WASHINGTON —
The Washington Post is reporting a Secret Service team violated protocol when an armed security contractor, who was later found to have three prior convictions for violent offenses, was allowed on an elevator with President Obama during a Sept. 16 visit to Atlanta.

The Post reports three people familiar with the incident confirmed the events that took place when Obama was visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss the U.S. response to the Ebola crisis.

According the sources in Post article, the contractor was using his phone to record video of Obama and refused to comply when Secret Service agents asked him to stop. The contractor was questioned by agents and a database check revealed the contractor's previous convictions for assault and battery.

The contractor was reportedly fired on the spot by a supervisor for a private security firm and agreed to turn over his gun. The Post said agents were not aware the contractor was armed.

“You have a convicted felon within arm’s reach of the president and they never did a background check,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told the Post. “Words aren’t strong enough for the outrage I feel for the safety of the president and his family."

The Post report was another blow to the Secret Service which is facing criticism from Congress over the recent breach of the White House by an intruder.

On Tuesday, the director of the Secret Service admitted failures in her agency's critical mission of protecting the president but repeatedly sidestepped key questions about how a knife-carrying intruder penetrated ring after ring of security before finally being tackled deep inside the White House.

Despite the extraordinary lapses in the Sept. 19 incident, Julia Pierson asserted: "The president is safe today."

Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike expressed the view that the latest breaches of White House security had blemished the storied agency, and several pressed for an independent inquiry into what went wrong. They were not assuaged by Pierson's vow that "I'll make sure that it does not happen again" or by the agency's own investigation.

"I wish to God you protected the White House like you protected your reputation here today," Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., told Pierson at a public hearing that was followed by a classified, closed-door briefing. Chaffetz, who has led Congress' investigation, said afterward: "The more I learn, the more it scares me."

Calm but defensive in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Pierson disclosed that shortly before the intruder jumped the fence at least two of her uniformed officers recognized him from an earlier troubling encounter but did not approach him or report his presence to superiors.


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## Dark Knight (Oct 1, 2014)

Maybe the Secret Service is as ready as you are but willing to make it happen one way or the other.


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## Road Guy (Oct 1, 2014)

I would wager that a good percentage of Secret Service agents Loathe there ultimate boss however I doubt they would give him the equivalent of a "no block" play


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## NJmike PE (Oct 1, 2014)

again. that's too bad....


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## Dexman PE PMP (Oct 1, 2014)

Joe Biden remains a solid protection against any Obama assassination attempt.


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## Road Guy (Oct 1, 2014)

you know Barry may be smarter than he gets credit for!

although the story about a guy breaking into the white house and getting into the East Wing, did any of you read that story? He (was a vet with PTSD) overcame i.e. _beat the ass of_ , a secret service officer to make his way into the white house..that's kind of unreal to me (&amp; I don't attribute that to Obama) but maybe they have just gone too long without some reason to be a little more vigilant..


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## snickerd3 (Oct 1, 2014)

they get in trouble if they use excessive force, and when they don't use excessive force then people complain. Life as a SS agent is not fun. The drop out rate is HUGE! the divorce rate for agents is also very high.


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## Road Guy (Oct 1, 2014)

true but they endure years of BS to get a chance to get hired, along they way you are told of the "misery" of the job... I went through 10 months of selection for an FBI agent spot and every time there was a chance the recruiting agents would tell us "you know this isn't really a great job if you have a family, personal life, hobbies, etc"

I imagine at the top of this trouble is a political hack appointee of some sort that probably just doesn't know what they are doing..


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## Mike in Gastonia (Oct 1, 2014)

I don't know why, but when I heard the headline on the news, this is what I thought of........ I was wondering, "what the hell is Obama doing on an elevator with construction guys? And why do they have guns?"


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## Dark Knight (Oct 1, 2014)

^^^And that is another safety rule violation


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## NJmike PE (Oct 1, 2014)

Mike in Gastonia said:


> I don't know why, but when I heard the headline on the news, this is what I thought of........ I was wondering, "what the hell is Obama doing on an elevator with construction guys? *And why do they have guns?"*


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## Transpo_Girl (Oct 1, 2014)

suns out, Guns Out!


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## Lumber Jim (Oct 2, 2014)

Dark Knight said:


> ^^^And that is another safety rule violation


no hard hat and safety vest... and I'll bet he forgot his steel toes at home.


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## snickerd3 (Oct 2, 2014)

so i guess congressmen don't feel that former convicts deserve a second chance at employment? Evidently the company that hired him was giving him a second chance. I would call that discrimination.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Oct 2, 2014)

Second chances don't exist when it comes to the 2nd Amendment.


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## engineergurl (Oct 2, 2014)

snickerd3 said:


> so i guess congressmen don't feel that former convicts deserve a second chance at employment? Evidently the company that hired him was giving him a second chance. I would call that discrimination.




that depends on his crime... 3 prior convictions for violent offenses sounds like he had his second and third chance...


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## Road Guy (Oct 2, 2014)

his jobs as a security contractor for a federal agency probably required him to NOT have a felony on his record, he most likely lied about it and obviously this federal contractor did a pretty poor job in their background checks...

some guys that I was in the army with (1 was given a Bad Conduct Discharge) for smoking too much weed all got similar jobs when they got out of the army, these are people that cant make it through a police background check but slip by with the private firms. Probably not "bad guys" just people with mistakes on their records, but just people that police departments wont hire..the firms prefer to hire ex military since they can usually follow instructions..


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