Security of the President is of the Upmost Importance

December 3, 2009 2:23 PM

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today questioned the Director of the United States Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, regarding the couple accused of circumventing the Secret Service security checks during the President’s State Dinner on Tuesday, November 24th

“I think it was very unfortunate that the White House stonewalled members of Congress in the Homeland Security Committee,” said Rep. Miller. “The White House said they couldn’t have their Social Secretary come and testify to us because there is a separation of powers. Well, this is an Administration issue and I think that it is very unfortunate that the White House did not send the Social Secretary. I do think that there is a shared responsibility with what happened at the recent dinner – both with the Secret Service, as well as with the White House with their Social Secretary. It is unfortunate that the White House is apparently throwing the Secret Service under the bus in this case and we are now going to consider a subpoena to get the White House to testify.”

The United States Secret Service has the ultimate responsibility for the security of the President, but that responsibility is shared with members of the White House staff who are responsible for issuing invitations for events and establishing the guest lists for events. The committee will continue to work with the Secret Service to make certain that appropriate procedures are in place to so that events like this do not occur again. On a different issue, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2007 reprimanded the Bush administration who would not allow White House staff to testify. At that time, the Speaker stated: “The White House, no matter who is in it, cannot violate the Constitution by not being accountable to the Congress.” Rep. Miller hopes that the Speaker can use her influence with this White House to ensure that the committee hears from those on the staff and assist the committee with its appropriate role in providing vigorous oversight.

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