The US Secret Service was investigating after an apparently intoxicated and confused man walked past agents and into the Washington home of Joe Biden’s national security adviser.
Jake Sullivan confronted the man and told him to leave, the Washington Post first reported, of an incident that happened at about 3am one night in late April. There were no signs of forced entry.
The Post said: “Sullivan has a round-the-clock Secret Service detail. But agents stationed outside the house were unaware that an intruder had gotten inside … until the man had already left and Sullivan came outside to alert the agents.”
A Secret Service spokesperson said: “While the protectee was unharmed, we are taking this matter seriously and have opened a comprehensive mission assurance investigation to review all facets of what occurred. Any deviation from our protective protocols is unacceptable and if discovered, personnel will be held accountable.
“Modifications to the protective posture have also been made to ensure additional security layers are in place as we conduct this comprehensive review.”
National security advisers received increased protection after the discovery in 2021 of an alleged Iranian plot to kill John Bolton, the third such adviser to Donald Trump.
Carol Leonnig, a Post reporter and the author of a recent book about the Secret Service, told MSNBC the Bolton plot was “a reason sources reached out to us”.
“An Iranian military official has been charged with paying someone to try to kill [John Bolton] on US soil. So that’s why Jake Sullivan has 24/7 protection, and we would hope as Americans protecting him would be a little tighter than somebody being able to get into his home in the middle of the night.”
Attacks on US politicians and public officials are a matter of increasing concern. Last October, a man entered the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi, the former US House speaker, who is guarded by US Capitol police. The intruder attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.
In Fairfax, Virginia, earlier this week, a man carrying a metal baseball bat attacked staff and damaged property at the district office of Gerry Connolly, a Democratic member of Congress. Connolly was not present. Two staffers were taken to hospital. The 49-year-old man was reported to have a history of mental illness.
The Post said there was no evidence the intruder at Sullivan’s house intended to do him harm. Nonetheless, Secret Service lapses are always high-profile, given the seniority of the officials they protect.
In 2009, a socialite couple seeking reality TV fame managed to crash Barack Obama’s first state dinner as president, in honour of the prime minister of India.
In a more alarming incident, in 2017, a man scaled a 5ft fence by the US treasury department then spent 16 minutes on White House grounds.
The intruder was found to be carrying two cans of Mace spray, a passport, a computer and a book by Donald Trump. He told agents he was a friend of the president and had an appointment. Trump was home at the time.
Of the incident at Sullivan’s home, Leonnig said: “The real big alarm bell here is that the Secret Service was not aware that a person basically walked right into his house in the middle of the night.”
Thomas S Warrick, an Atlantic Council member and security expert, told CBS News: “This should not have happened. Absolutely not. And especially where there are hostile nation states targeting US officials on US soil.”
