[classicman]

Michaele and Tareq Salahi face a subpoena from the House Homeland Security Committee after skipping Thursday's hearing on how they passed through Secret Service checkpoints to crash President Obama's Nov. 24 state dinner and ended up shaking hands with him.

The Democratic chairman of the panel brushed aside a request from the ranking Republican to issue a subpoena forcing social secretary Desiree Rogers also to testify.
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Lynn Sweet.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told the House panel that three Secret Service officers who failed to stop the Salahis have been placed on administrative leave with pay.

Throughout the hearing, Sullivan took the blame for the breach, saying the Secret Service -- not Rogers' operation -- was responsible for security. The Salahis were not stopped -- but should have been, Sullivan said -- at the first of two checkpoints when the Secret Service officer on duty could not find their names on the guest list for the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife.

Instead of following the protocol -- to call a supervisor who would touch base with the social office -- the officer let the Salahis continue, and they sailed past a second checkpoint.

"I mean pure and simple. This is a human error. We could have the best technology, we could have had all the funding that we'd ever want, but this still would not have prevented this from happening," Sullivan told the committee. He said Obama was never in any danger and this was an "isolated incident . . . due to just poor judgment."

The Salahis are the subject of a criminal investigation in an incident that embarrassed the Secret Service. Even though the Secret Service last week said the breach was its fault, the White House on Wednesday issued new guidelines calling for a White House staffer to be with each officer checking people in for parties, to catch party crashers. Sullivan testified that Rogers' office did have personnel roving the area, but his officers made a mistake by not contacting them.

Sullivan was the only witness. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he would ask the committee to subpoena the Salahis. The White House blocked Rogers from testifying -- asserting it was a separation-of-powers issue -- but that did not stop several lawmakers from criticizing her for not having more staffers working more closely with the officers. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who invited Rogers to testify, said he wanted the committee to also subpoena her. Thompson rebuffed King's bid as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) argued that Rogers' office was not responsible for security -- the Secret Service was -- and that dragging her in as a witness was "muddying the waters."

I would think this transparent administration would have . . . oh nevermind. This is just another reason I hate politicians.