ABOVE: Secret Service director takes the bullet for White House security breach
WASHINGTON – Secret Service Director Julia Pierson has resigned after a recent security breach at the White House.
The news comes a day after Pierson acknowledged that her agency failed in executing its plan to protect the White House when a man with a knife entered the mansion and ran through half the ground floor before being subdued.
“It’s unacceptable,” Pierson told lawmakers as she faced blistering criticism. But her promised review of how the storied but blemished agency carries out its mission of protecting the president – and how it failed to intercept the intruder much earlier – left lawmakers from both parties cold.
“I wish to God you protected the White House like you protected your reputation here today,” Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch told her at a hearing.
READ MORE: White House fence-jumper reportedly made it to East Room
Calm but defensive in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Pierson disclosed that shortly before the intruder jumped the fence Sept. 19, at least two of her uniformed officers recognized him from an earlier troubling encounter but did not approach him or report his presence to superiors.
WATCH: The U.S. Secret Service was embarrassed Tuesday when it was revealed a man had not only jumped the White House fence, he ran through an unlocked down and, armed with a knife, made it much further inside than was first admitted. Jackson Proskow reports.
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