British security experts, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told this newsroom that last week's shooting at the White House perimeter exposed vulnerabilities that could have been exploited by a more sophisticated attacker.
Former MI5 counter-terrorism chief Alistair Finch, now a private security consultant, said: 'The fact that an individual could get within 200 yards of the West Wing with a firearm is deeply concerning. In the UK, armed response times are measured in seconds. The US Secret Service relies on layered physical barriers. Those layers failed.'
Sources confirm the shooter, identified as 34-year-old Kevin Miller of Ohio, passed through an outer vehicle checkpoint without a full search because his vehicle was on a pre-approved delivery list. Documents obtained by this outlet show that Miller's employer, a catering company, had been awarded a contract through a questionable bidding process three years ago. The company's owner, Richard Hale, has donated $47,000 to the political action committee of Senator John Hemsworth, a key member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
'This is a systemic failure of oversight. The bidding process has been compromised, and it is literally a matter of life and death,' said transparency advocate Laura Davies of the Project for Government Oversight.
Further investigation reveals that the perimeter's electronic sensors had been malfunctioning for six weeks prior to the incident. Internal Secret Service emails, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, show that maintenance requests were 'deprioritised' due to budget cuts. The cuts were part of a broader cost-saving measure championed by Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Rivera, who has repeatedly declined to answer questions about his department's spending priorities.
Rivera's office did not respond to requests for comment. A Secret Service spokesperson said that the agency is 'reviewing all procedures' but declined to elaborate.
This is not the first warning. In a 2019 report commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security, British security firm IntegriProtect advised that the White House perimeter needed 'immediate upgrades' to sensor technology and that the vehicle vetting process was 'vulnerable to exploitation.' The report was buried, sources confirm. IntegriProtect's CEO, Sir Richard Bancroft, told this newsroom: 'We were clear about the risks. The report was ignored. Now we see the consequences.'
The incident has sparked a heated debate in Washington about security funding. But the real story is the money trail. Where the dollars go and who gets to spend them, without oversight, without accountability. That is the rot at the core. And no one in a suit wants to talk about it.
