in the age of terrorism and political assassination
just how safe is the white house and are there secret measures in place to keep the president
and his family secure the white house is sort of a mecca for all these nuts in the world who
who want to just go after authority the president is the top enchilada
and so they will show up at the white house and try to get in service takes those threats
regardless of whether it's against the president the vice president members of the family
the white house itself very seriously and investigates to make sure that they get
the full understanding of exactly what that threat is and how to mitigate it
the first lines of defense against white house intruders are the visible deterrents such as
the iron fence lining the perimeter and the guards patrolling the white house grounds
but there are also security measures hidden from the public eye the white house grounds
are protected by a complete array of sensors that detect heat motion if anything is detected
the secret service comes running the uniformed officers of the secret service in particular
are in charge of guarding the white house grounds and the white house itself
and they have dogs that will attack an intruder if necessary they will shoot
the intruder to kill them the secret service is one of the most professional organizations
they put their lives on the line every single day protecting the president over
the years a number of armed or otherwise dangerous intruders have attacked the white house in 1974
robert preston a young army private hovered above the south lawn in a stolen helicopter
white house guards responded with a barrage of gunfire forcing preston to land slightly injured
and clad in fatigues the hijacker was apprehended and admitted for psychiatric observation
i george walker bush do solemnly swear george walker bush do solemnly swim
gunshots of the sound of gunshots on the south side of the white house in february 2001 two
weeks after george w bush's inauguration robert w pickett a former irs employee with a history of
mental illness and suicide attempts waved a gun at tourists and police outside the white house
firing several shots a secret service agent shot him in the knee after a 10-minute standoff
november 11 2011 oscar ortega hernandez a 21-year-old man from idaho fired a semi-automatic
assault rifle from a passing car the bullets struck near the residential quarters recently
you had a situation where there was someone shooting at the white house
fortunately they had the appropriate level of security there that prevented any penetration
of those rounds from actually getting into the interior of the white house itself
but one of the most unusual attacks on the white house came on september 11 1994.
just before midnight frank corder a 38-year-old army veteran
suffering from depression stole a cessna plane and flew it towards the white house
seven minutes out air traffic controllers stationed at the national airport
picked up the cessna on their radar screens but it was too late quarter crashed the plane
directly on the south lawn missing the white house by just a few feet
while reports indicate quarter committed suicide many speculated that he was in fact shot down
could there be as some believe anti-aircraft missiles on top of the white house
and people just assumed that the white house had all of those defense mechanisms in place
and when this cessna flew into the white house people were asking how
can that happen but since then i can assure you there have been defense
mechanisms put in place that would prevent that sort of situation from happening again
if you go back from the washington post when we were in the bush administration
and there's a picture on the front page of some systems that were installed post 911 so you can
unearth your own secret that way but i don't wanna i don't wanna talk about it
but with all the corridors offices tunnels and secret areas of the white house
is there one area that is the safest and most secure of all
a place where the president and his family can go in the event of a national emergency
obviously i'm not going to be able to say specifically but just let's say that there
are ways of moving the president the first family around in the event that there might be a threat
in the white house some speculate that the safest area of the white house is the secret underground
facility located below the east wing known as the peoc or president's emergency operations center
originally constructed as a bomb shelter by president franklin roosevelt during world war ii
the peoc has been designed to withstand a nuclear attack
it's in the east wing basement it's an old world war ii bomb shelter with a great big heavy door
full of bunks and and canned foods and canned water and all that cheney
and connie rice and a few other people rode out the storm on 911 in the peoc
with the contingency plan seamlessly followed on 911 the nation and its leaders can be
confident that the most public of private homes is today safe and secure for over 200 years the
white house has more than met george washington's original intention to house serve and protect the
president of the united states and his family but perhaps the greatest secret the white house holds
is that each passing president is a temporary resident in what is actually a home that belongs
to every american i look at our family and god what a blessing i mean to live there at that
very unique time this is america's home it's it's not our home you want to cherish it you want to
enjoy it but you want to respect it it's not the first family's home it's america's home