Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250102
SECTION: NATL/ITNL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD S. PURDUM THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
It is not at all clear that the latest suspect, Leland William Modjeski, a former pizza delivery man, intended to cause President Clinton any harm. He was carrying an unloaded revolver, and was tackled, then shot in the arm, before coming anywhere near Clinton. The president was inside the residence, protected by uniformed and plainclothes agents who guard his every move.
But coming on the heels of the crash-landing of a light plane on the White House lawn, and the fusillade of semiautomatic rifle fire from a gunman that pockmarked the north side of the mansion last fall, the incident only heightened concerns about security at the nation's most prominent address.
Those concerns made worldwide headlines last weekend with the closing of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the building to deter would-be truck bombers.
Asked if all the attention to the closing and the past incidents that prompted the government security review that recommended it might have inspired would-be intruders, the White House spokesman, Michael McCurry replied, ``I am not an expert on the motives or thinking of those that would attempt to do very silly and foolish things.''
But McCurry acknowledged that public attention to security at the White House had been heightened in recent months. ``There's been more discussion of those issues,'' he said., ``and it raises the awareness that some who, you know, ... have misguided motives may have as they contemplate their own action.''
Copycat behavior is a universal phenomenon in any case that receives wide publicity, and security experts said the latest incident was no cause for panic.
``Of course the Pennsylvania Avenue business may have something to do with it,'' said William Webster, the former director of the FBI and the CIA who was among the outside experts who recommended closing Pennsylvania Avenue. ``Some people are triggered by concentrations of news. Usually they're the ones who are not the lethal conspirators, with the planning and the cunning, but people who act impetuously.
``I feel very good about what we did about the avenue, and I don't think you can refrain from doing responsible things because of how unstable people may respond,'' Webster added. ``At the same time, in my opinion, this latest incident doesn't call for any further steps, [like] walling off the South Lawn, or electrifying that fence, where kids could get hurt.
``Over time, there have been plenty of these fence jumpers, and they have procedures in place to handle them. I just don't think we should take this incident and say, `Henny-Penny, the sky is falling down!' It's not.''
``You can't provide absolute security to the president's house in an urban area,'' said Vince Cannistraro, an international security consultant. ``You can't really do it in a democratic society.''
The most the White House can do is take ``prudent steps'' to reduce the potential for a car or truck bomb - as it has done - and improve its warning and response systems, Cannistraro said.
``The response time is not good enough, so they need to have a better electronic system and they need to have better monitoring of it,'' Cannistraro said. ``Those are things I think are certainly being done.''
When Lyndon Johnson was in the White House, a man once made it over the fence and up to the front door, where he knocked - and was subsequently arrested.
``The fence runs the perimeter of the grounds, and our system is designed to pick up these kinds of interceptions,'' said Secret Service spokesman Michael Tarr. An electronic alarm system is designed to alert the agents in their guard stations when this occurs.
From 1989 through last November, 23 people jumped fences to enter the White House complex, according to the Treasury Department security review, which was issued last week at the time of the street closing. ``Most of these `fence jumpers' have been pranksters, peaceful protesters and harmless, mentally ill individuals,'' the report found.
But some have been more dangerous. On July 27, 1976, Chester Plummer, a taxi driver, scaled the White House fence carrying a 3-foot length of metal pipe and was confronted by an officer who warned him to stop. But he refused, raised the pipe and was fatally shot in the chest.
Robert J. Donovan, the author of a two-volume history of the Truman administration and ``The Assassins,'' a history of presidential killings, said, ``There is a certain epidemic effect to a lot of these things.'' But he added that the current climate of harsh political rhetoric made the past seem innocent.
Recalling President Truman's blustery resolve to keep taking his famous walks after the unsuccessful attempt on his life at Blair House in 1950 - and the president's earthy threats about where he would put the gun of any would-be assassin - Donovan said such days were gone for good.
``With what we're seeing in this country, I don't think you can overprotect the president,'' he said. ``Everything's got to be done to try.''
The Associated Press and Cox News Service contributed information to this story.
From 1989 through last November, 23 people jumped fences to enter the White House complex, according to the Treasury Department security review, which was issued last week at the time of the street closing. ``Most of these `fence jumpers' have been pranksters, peaceful protesters and harmless, mentally ill individuals,'' the report found.
But some have been more dangerous. On July 27, 1976, Chester Plummer, a local taxi driver, scaled the White House fence carrying a 3-foot length of metal pipe and was confronted by an officer who warned him to stop. But he refused, raised the pipe and was fatally shot in the chest.
In October, 1978, a fervently religious man named Anthony Henry, trying to persuade President Jimmy Carter that it was blasphemous to place the words ``In God We Trust'' on U.S. currency, climbed over the fence on the north grounds wearing a white karate suit and carrying a Bible.
Confronted by agents, he pulled a knife from inside the Bible and slashed one officer's face and another's arm before being surrounded by agents and prodded with batons till the knife was knocked from his hand and he was arrested.
Other intruders have been unarmed. In 1975, Gerald Gainous roamed the grounds for an hour and a half and approached President Ford's daughter, Susan, as she unloaded camera equipment from her car.
Robert J. Donovan, the author of a two-volume history of the Truman administration and ``The Assassins,'' a history of presidential killings, said ``There is a certain epidemic effect to a lot of these things.'' But he added that the current climate of harsh political rhetoric made the past seem innocent.
Recalling President Truman's blustery resolve to keep taking his famous walks after the unsuccessful attempt on his life at Blair House in 1950 - and the president's earthy threats about where he would put the gun of any would-be assassin - Donovan said such days were gone for good.
``With what we're seeing in this country, I don't think you can overprotect the president,'' he said. ``Everything's got to be done to try.''
The Associated Press and Cox News Service contributed information to this story.
by CNB