WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE SECRET SERVICE IS WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT

On September 19, Omar Gonzalez, 42, scaled the fence in front of the White House.

He ran across the lawn to a door in the North Portico that should have been guarded but wasn’t, "overpowered" a female Secret Service officer who was belatedly trying to close an inner door (an alarm should have sounded, but it had been muted), ran past the stairway leading to the First Family’s living quarters into the East Room, where he was tackled by an off duty agent who just happened to be there.

The Secret Service didn’t release dogs trained to go after intruders, for fear they’d attack agents chasing Mr. Gonzalez – a possibility which evidently hadn’t occurred to the Secret Service until then. It should have. There’d been six other fence jumpers since 2004.

The incident happened two weeks ago, but was in the news this week because the Secret Service has been less than forthcoming. After a whistleblower leaked details, the House Oversight Committee had some questions for Secret Service Director Julia Pierson at a hearing Tuesday (9/30).

"I take full responsibility," Ms. Pierson said, which is what bureaucrats say when they don’t expect to be held accountable.

But because Democrats are as upset as Republicans at this latest in an appallingly long list of Secret Service screwups, Ms. Pierson actually was held accountable. She resigned the next day.

This was just, because the Secret Service got more dysfunctional on her watch, and she misled Congress. But as Ms. Pierson cleaned out her desk, no one could blame her for thinking it unfair.

The Secret Service is no more dysfunctional than the Veterans Administration, Holder Justice, the IRS, or HHS, which after spending $2 billion still can’t make the Obamacare web site work. Ms. Pierson didn’t lie as often or as egregiously as have many others. But only she has had to walk the plank.

President Obama should be wary of concern expressed for his safety by "lawmakers who have spent the last six years fighting his every initiative," wrote Peter Baker of the New York Times.

It didn’t occur to a New York Times reporter that Republicans could oppose Mr. Obama’s policies without wanting to have him murdered.

No Republican at Tuesday’s hearing criticized the president. But shining a spotlight on the Secret Service’s dysfunction "might further undercut confidence in the government Mr. Obama runs even though it was hardly his fault an intruder with a knife made it into the White House," Mr. Baker fretted.

Mr. Obama chose Ms. Pierson over more qualified candidates, presumably so he could appoint the first female director. The president’s job is to oversee the Executive branch, not to make tee times or attend fund raisers. Mr. Baker’s attempt to exculpate Mr. Obama from any blame for the Secret Service’s dysfunction is as preposterous as his assertion Republicans aren’t genuinely concerned for his safety is vile.

One reason why Americans worry about Ebola is because "it’s difficult to point to anything the government has done well recently, or any instance in which they’ve been completely candid with us," said John Hayward of Human Events.

Ebola is here because the government didn’t restrict travel from West Africa, as many other nations have. The "handful" of people authorities said may have been exposed to the deadly virus is now "as many as 100."  How confidant are you that the Centers for Disease Control is run better than the VA, the IRS or the Secret Service?

It isn’t, said Dr.Gil Mobley, a microbiologist and emergency physician who flew to Atlanta Thursday (10/2) in full protective gear to protest CDC’s "mismanagement" of the crisis:

CDC officials who "sugar coat" the risks of the disease spreading are lying, or are grossly incompetent, Dr. Mobley said. CDC issued guidelines to funeral homes last month about how to dispose of the remains of Ebola patients, so my money’s on lying.

It’s hard to put much faith in the assurances of officials who’ve lied to us before. A crisis of confidence of Americans in their government is building. If funeral homes around the country soon have remains of Ebola victims to dispose of, it will boil over.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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