A man trespassing into a yard hopes a fence. He sprints across the lawn only to be tackled. Within the next 24 hours the same lawn is again trespassed. But this house isn’t in the Bronx, the streets of Chicago, or even in West Price Hill. This house that was invaded twice within 24 hours is none other than White House of the United States of America.
Late September 20, 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez of Coperas Cove, Texas, jumped the fence along Pennsylvania Avenue, just minutes after US President Barack Obama, his daughter and her friend boarded a helicopter on the South Lawn. They were headed on a weekend trip to Camp David.

Omar is an Iraq War veteran and was armed with a concealed black folding knife. The incident creates another setback in the secret service’s fight to reshape its image. Officials were considering opening a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. According to agents who arrested him, Gonzalez said that he was desperate to see the President to warn him about “the atmosphere collapsing”.

The next afternoon, Kevin Carr, 19, was taken in to custody by officers after allegedly driving a car up to a screening point then refusing to leave when he was asked. The Secret Service said that Carr had first approached the White House on foot Saturday afternoon, then left when he was told.
But, agents claim he later returned in a white, four-door sedan and drove to a security checkpoint, when he refused to leave. Bomb teams were sent to investigate the vehicle while Carr was arrested.
Friends of Carr described him as an “intelligent” and “reasonable” young man who was on vacation in Washington D.C. and had no reason to attempt to get inside the White House. Carr has been charged with unauthorized access, among other crimes, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gonzalez has been charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building while carrying a “deadly or dangerous weapon.”

A former stepson of Gonzalez has said that he is never without his knife, a three-and-half-inch folding blade. Jerry Murphy added that if Gonzalez had wanted to bring more dangerous weapons, he could have.

At a hearing late Saturday afternoon in D.C. Superior Court, the assistant public defender representing Gonzalez said Gonzalez had no convictions or arrest warrants and had tested negative Saturday for drug use according to The Washington Post.

The secret service was criticized for not apprehending Gonzalez sooner, and admitted their performance was “not acceptable,” leading to new measures being put in place.

Throughout America’s history there have been many attempts at breaking into the White House, copy and paste the following URL if you want to see a list of all attempts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_intruders

This is not the image that America wants to be displaying for the world. Especially with all the world issues going on today our President needs to be even more protected than usual. With both break-ins occuring within 24 hours of each other it makes you wonder how safe is our President?