White House security scare as drone found on grounds Monday

[Suzanimal]

White House security scare as drone found on grounds Monday; President Obama was in India at time: reports


There was a security scare at the White House early Monday when a suspicious device, reportedly a drone, was found on the executive mansion's grounds.

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating, White House spokesman John Earnest said, but it is believed the device did not pose a threat to the building. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were on a three-day visit to India, but their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were at the White House, according to POLITICO.

A White House official told CNN the device was a small drone. It was not clear whether it had crashed. That official said the Secret Service was waiting for daylight to remove it. Emergency vehicles with lights flashing were gathered near the mansion's southeast entrance.

The Secret Service established a security perimeter around the White House, restricting access, according to The Associated Press.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/white-house-lockdown-secret-service-find-device-article-1.2091757

[tod evans]

Drone?

3701

[otherone]

the poor baby musta been TERRIFIED:

http://g02.s.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1B7RnFVXXXXbhXXXXq6xXFXXXZ/220731636/HTB1B7RnFVXXXXbhXXXXq6xXFXXXZ.jpg

It's so dangerous being the president:

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.607999565186991064&pid=15.1&P=0

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608027559789659167&pid=15.1&P=0

[jbauer]

I'll probably have my house raided but This was REALLY F'ing funny. Dude kills civilians by the bomb load but an unarmed little one lands inside the white house grounds and all of a sudden its a national security scare. And just for the record my smartphone usage will clearly show that I was 1000 mile away.

[Anti Federalist]

Oh, so that's what Mordor was in an uproar over today.

"The wicked flee when none pursue..."

[Anti Federalist]

In one, police arrested a man in August who got stuck in a tree at Freedom Plaza, several blocks from the White House, after he climbed up to retrieve his small drone, according a compilation of recent incidents by the FAA.

Arrested at the "Freedom Plaza".

Irony truly is dead.

[Suzanimal]

Man who crashed drone into White House was reportedly drunk


The man who crashed a DJI Phantom drone into the White House grounds on Monday morning has now told Secret Service investigators that he had been drinking prior the accident. According to a report in The New York Times, the man also claims the drone belonged a friend, that he was piloting it and lost control, and that he went to bed worried about exactly where it had come back to earth.

President Obama and his family weren't in the White House at the time, but in an interview with CNN, Obama said that he has urged the FAA and other federal agencies to examine how domestic drones are being managed. He wants regulators to find ways to ensure drones "aren't dangerous and that they're not violating people's privacy.":rolleyes:
He also noted that drones could provide tremendous value with new applications around farming and land conservation. But most strikingly, Obama acknowledged the mismatch between the system currently in place and the rapid spread of drone technology. "The drone that landed in the White House you buy in Radio Shack," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria. "But we don't really have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it."

The FAA prohibits flying while under the influence of drugs and alcohol and says that flying over Washington, DC is also banned, but there is no test or licensing required to purchase or operate a unit like the DJI Phantom. But never fear. To help the legions of new pilots entering the skies, the agency put together this helpful video, just in time for the holiday rush.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7922511/drone-crash-white-house-drunk-obama-regulations

[Anti Federalist]

The Maximum Leader of the US government calls for regulating drones to protect people’s privacy. So the government will put regulations in place to prevent a drone with a camera hovering outside my window invading my privacy to the same extent as a peeping Tom with a ladder.

Then I compare that to the privacy invasions of the US Government’s various agencies that:

•Register every birth with a tax number
•Track physical address with a driver’s license
•Open and read much of our physical mail
•Open and read all our email
•Track every website we visit
•Track every credit card transaction we make
•Track the movement of money in and out of every account
•Listen in on all our phone calls
•Read all our texts
•Monitor our social media posts
•Track our movements via our mobile phones and license plates
•Use radar technology to peep into our houses
•Strip us down and pat us down at the airport or train station
•Assassinate anyone, anywhere on the planet for any reason or none USING A DRONE

Note to White House: Protect my privacy by dismantling this virtual panopticon before putting regulations in place for a non-issue.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/%3Fpost_type%3Dlrc-blog%26p%3D533425

[Anti Federalist]

The FAA prohibits flying while under the influence of drugs and alcohol and says that flying over Washington, DC is also banned, but there is no test or licensing required to purchase or operate a unit like the DJI Phantom.

Coming soon comrades.

[donnay]

Inside job! Operator of drone that crashed on White House lawn is government employee - but he was just flying it for fun

By Anneta Konstantinides For Mailonline and Associated Press

The owner of a small drone that smashed onto the White House grounds early on Monday was a federal government employee, who said he breached the secure perimeter by accident.

The unidentified man, who is from Washington D.C. and does not work at the White House, came forward hours after the pre-dawn incident triggered a major emergency response and raised fresh questions about security at the mansion.

A U.S. official said that the man contacted the Secret Service after reports of the crash spread across the media, and he told the agency he had been flying the drone for fun.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/01/26/25186A9100000578-2926492-image-m-2_1422304309776.jpg
A federal government employee contacted the Secret Service to say he was responsible for the drone that landed on the White House South Lawn, pictured, early Monday. He said he did not intend for it to go near the White House and that he had been flying it for fun

Continued... (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2927974/Operator-drone-crashed-White-House-grounds-government-employee-flying-fun.html)

[Zippyjuan]

Don't drink and drone. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us/white-house-drone.html


White House Drone Crash Described as a U.S. Worker’s Drunken Lark

WASHINGTON — It was 42 degrees and raining lightly around 3 a.m. on Monday when an inebriated off-duty employee for a government intelligence agency decided it was a good time to fly his friend’s drone, a 2-foot-by-2-foot “quadcopter” that sells for hundreds of dollars and is popular among hobbyists.

But officials say the plan was foiled, perhaps by wind or a tree, when the employee — who has not been named by the Secret Service or charged with a crime — lost control of the drone as he operated it from an apartment just blocks from the White House.

He texted his friends, worried that the drone had gone down on the White House grounds, and then went to sleep. It was not until the next morning, when he woke and learned from friends that a drone had been found at the White House, that he contacted his employer, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He then called the Secret Service and immediately began cooperating with an investigation into the incident.

In the process of what officials describe as nothing more than a drunken misadventure, the employee managed to highlight another vulnerability in the protective shield that the Secret Service erects around the White House complex.

More at link.

[Dr.3D]

Guess they are afraid some leaves might get knocked out of some trees. (Oh wait, it's winter, there are no leaves. I wonder what they are afraid of.)

[Dr.3D]

I think it's pretty stupid to be calling them drones. We have been flying remote controlled aircraft for decades now.

[acptulsa]

Guess they are afraid some leaves might get knocked out of some trees. (Oh wait, it's winter, there are no leaves. I wonder what they are afraid of.)

Perhaps the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency? Sounds menacing to me.