On the night of September 19, 2014, Omar Gonzalez, an Iraq-war veteran, scaled the seven foot tall fence surrounding the White House lawn and ran to the building armed with a knife. Gonzalez reportedly got into the building and made it a little ways in before being tackled to the ground and detained.

What allowed such a breach of security has been under review for quite awhile. Jumping the fence is one thing, but to be able to get into the White House is quite unnerving. Most people thought that getting into the White House would be considered one of the hardest things a person could accomplish. Sure Gonzalez didn’t get that far into the house, but what if one of the Obamas was in one of the hallways he just happened to be running down? These are the questions many people are thinking.

Security issues were apparently in effect, including a security alarm box being silenced because it was apparently really noisy. If the alarm box wasn’t turned down, Gonzalez probably wouldn’t have made it into the house. The staff’s professionalism has also been put into question as well.

The first line of defense, the fence, has now been buffed up. Now there is a second set of fences around the building, making it twice as hard to jump onto the White House lawn. With this small breach of security, it sends a huge message to the nation and those who want to hurt us, and that message is “there are openings.”