WASHINGTON — The alarm system at the house of former President George H.W. Bush stopped working in September 2013 and wasn’t fixed for more than a year, a new report says.
The report, which was compiled by the office of Homeland Security Department Inspector General Inspector General John Roth, will be released Thursday, CBS News reports. It says that no breaches of security happened at the former president’s Houston house, but the timeline of the problems with the system, and with fixing it, sheds more light on dysfunction in the Secret Service, which is responsible for the security of former chief executives.
The former president’s main house is in Kennebunkport, Maine.
During the time the alarm was known to be out, a Secret Service employee was assigned to a “roving post to secure the residence,” but since it can’t be known precisely when the alarm failed, it’s possible Bush was left with no security at all.
The report says that a Secret Service employee determined the alarm system at Bush’s house “had exceeded its life cycle” and recommended it be replaced, but the request was denied. “Limited upgrades” were done in 2012, CBS reports.
The Secret Service bought a new system in January 2014 but it wasn’t installed until December 2014, CBS News says, citing the report.
“George and Barbara Bush have total confidence in the men and women of the Secret Service. Their trust in them is as unshakable as it is unbreakable,” Bush spokesman Jim McGrath told CBS News.
The report says that security equipment at one other former president’s house is showing “signs of impending failure,” CBS News says. The former president’s name was redacted.
The Secret Service told Roth that such a review was completed in January and a security system replacement plan has been included in the agency’s Resource Allocation Plan for the 2017 budget year.
The report is just the latest in a string of security missteps and scandals for the agency responsible for protecting the president and former presidents.
In September, a man armed with a knife was able to climb over a White House fence and run deep into the executive mansion before being apprehended. Lawmakers have been critical of the agency, including newly installed Director Joseph Clancy.
In a statement Thursday morning, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight Committee renewed that criticism.
“This adds to the growing list of significant concerns Congress has had with the management of the Secret Service,” said Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, and Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings. “It is imperative that Director Clancy act swiftly on a host of fronts to restore the American people’s confidence in this agency.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
