(PatrioticPost.com)- On Wednesday, the White House had to be partially evacuated once a drone was found to have entered into a restricted area. As a result, agents with the Secret Service were forced to sweep the area.
The entire North Lawn at the White House had to be evacuated just for precautions. Secret Service also imposed a lockdown, though it didn’t last for long. There weren’t any injuries reported due to the entire incident.
Later that day, the Secret Service’s chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, explained on Twitter:
“#SecretService Uniformed Division and technical security teams conducted precautionary sweeps after a drone crossed into a restricted area near the White House. Thanks to everyone for the information and support as agents and officers work to assess the situation.”
That tweet was sent in response to one from Peter Alexander, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News. He had tweeted earlier in the day:
“The @WhiteHouse North Lawn has been evacuated by @SecretService. Spokesman @AJGuglielmi tells @NBCNews it appears that a drone crossed into a restricted area. The lockdown is ‘precautionary at this point,’ Guglielmi says.”
Typically speaking, Secret Service takes a more conservative approach to situations like these, evacuating areas just in case. Back in June, Secret Service evacuated President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden from their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for a brief period of time after a small airplane ended up entering into restricted airspace by mistake.
The plane was escorted out of the area, and the Bidens returned to their house with no issues. As an official at the White House said when that incident happened:
“A small private plane entered restricted airspace, all indications are by mistake, and precautionary measures were taken. There was no threat to the president or his family.”
Back in January of 2015, a drone crashed onto the White House grounds after the man who was flying it lost control and crashed it. The Secret Service responded promptly to it, but it was also just a mistake.
Shawn Usman, who was the operator of that drone, is actually a scientist working for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. When he crashed the drone, he immediately contacted both the Secret Service and his employer to report what had happened. He didn’t face any charges for the incident.
Another much more serious security incident happened back in 2016 at the White House, when Biden was serving as vice president during the Obama administration. The White House had to be placed under lockdown after a man approached a checkpoint outside while he was armed. He was shot by an agent of the Secret Service.
Former President Barack Obama was not at the White House when the incident occurred. Biden was, but he was in a location that is considered secure.
That was the most serious incident in recent history handled by the Secret Service. This week’s incident pales in comparison to that one, as everything was cleared pretty quickly.
