White House ignores security procedures

EOP staff bringing cell phones and Blackberries into a SCIF? That's a big no-no. How could they get away with that? Who is the FSO at the white house so derelict in thier responsibilities that this would be allowed to happen? From http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=517.

Another area of concern involves the management of the White House Security Office itself. The current and former security officials reported that James Knodell, who until recently was the Director of the White House Security Office, and Ken Greeson, the Deputy Director, routinely violated basic security guidelines. They also said that these officials were poor managers who were loath to assert authority over White House security practices or to take actions that could embarrass White House officials.

One example cited by the officials involved security procedures in the White House sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF). The security officers said that Mr. Knodell and Mr. Greeson habitually brought their Blackberry devices and cell phones into the SCIF in the White House Security Office in violation of the rules. The officials said that Mr. Knodell and Mr. Greeson also allowed others, such as visiting White House personnel, to bring their Blackberries and cell phones into the SCIF. According to the officials, these improper practices were allowed to continue even after security officers repeatedly informed Mr. Knodell and Mr. Greeson that the practices violated security rules and set a poor example.

According to the security officers, the poor management and bad examples set by Mr. Knodell and Mr. Greeson caused extreme frustration and plummeting morale among White House security officers, resulting in the departure of more than half of the White House security officers within the last year.

Oh, that's how it happened, the Security Officers don't care enough to do the job properly. I mean who would want to be the guy to say to Dick Cheney, "I'm sorry Sir, your going to have to leave that document with me, it can't leave this room" he'd turn and sneer, the security officer would most likely turn to stone on the spot once fixed in that death glare. This is really pathetic. The individuals tasked with maintaining security at the White House are the very ones flagrantly flouting good security practices. It gets worse though.

In a third example, a security officer reported that a White House official left classified material behind in a hotel room during a foreign trip with the President. Although the CIA recovered the material and reported the incident, the White House Security Office did not investigate, seek remedial action, or discipline the responsible official.

LOL, this is too funny. Could you imagine being the guy at the CIA tasked to rescue classified documents that some Executive branch dipshit managed to leave in a hotel room? I hope whomever made that mistake was fired. Um, well no, because there was no investigation by the White House security office. Ummm, WHAT??!! So not only did someone from EOP leave classified material at a hotel room in a foreign country but no investigation of the security breach was undertaken. That's astounding. It's in fact extremely criminal, a felony.

In another example described to my staff, a junior White House aide reported that a senior assistant to the President improperly disclosed “Sensitive Compartmented Information” to the junior aide, even though the aide had no security clearance. Although SCI is the highest level of security classification, the White House Security Office took no steps to investigate or take corrective action.

As these are the violations that Henry Waxman was informed about, or just the ones he chose to use as examples here, it's safe to assume that nothing has changed over there and there's likely many, many instances like these where White House security officers have chosen not to enforce the rules meant to safeguard classified information. Surely they identified the bad apples and were able to repair the damage, right?

According to the security officers, the poor management and bad examples set by Mr. Knodell and Mr. Greeson caused extreme frustration and plummeting morale among White House security officers, resulting in the departure of more than half of the White House security officers within the last year.

Nope, it's just gotten worse.