Update: A government employee has admitted to flying the drone for recreational purposes. He told Secret Service that he lost control of the craft and did not intend to fly over the White House grounds.
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) January 26, 2015
Speaking in Delhi, Obama’s press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that a device crash landed into a tree at 3 a.m. Monday. Secret Service responded to the incident after hearing the quad copter drone buzz overhead.
“There is a device that has been recovered by the Secret Service at the White House,” Earnest said. “The indications are that it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat to anybody at the White House."
— Polo Sandoval (@PoloSandovalCNN) January 26, 2015
President Obama and the first lady are currently out of town on a 3-day trip to India, but it is unclear if their daughters, Sasha and Malia, were at home.
With heightened security, emergency vehicles surrounded the lawn’s south entrance, and the entire premises was put on lockdown for two hours early Monday morning.
The drone has been described as just two meters in diameter, and many of these smaller drones are available for purchase, though flying them in the District of Columbia is illegal.
— Kristi King (@kingWTOP) January 26, 2015
The Secret Service has come under fire in the past year for a series of security breaches. In September, a man armed with a knife managed to scale the White House fence and make it inside the house. The White House was also struck by a series of bullets in November.
The lapses forced several Secret Service executives to leave their positions, including former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson.
