Congress: Should the White House install a moat to keep out intruders?

Congress: Should the White House install a moat to keep out intruders?

A much more likely possibility is that the 7-foot, 6-inch fence is raised in the wake of recent security breaches.

With no end in sight to the recent attempts to breach the White House security perimeter, Congress has suggested the possibility of a medieval-type moat, or perhaps an electronic fence.

Secret Service director Joseph Clancy on Wednesday fielded a number of questions from the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about a fence jumper who was able to make it a long way onto White House grounds — including one from Rep. Seve Cohen (D-Tenn.) on whether a moat with water six feet around would be “attractive and effective,” according to NBC News.

Clancy said merely that “it may be.” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) followed with the possibility of taking down the current fence and replacing it with an electronic fence. But Clancy rejected that idea due to the number of tourists who are in that area.

A much more likely possibility is that the 7-foot, 6-inch fence is raised, with renderings of a new fence due in months. For now, the Secret Service is using bike racks to slow down breaching attempts and give officers more time to react.

The questions came the same day as the Secret Service arrested yet another person near the White House, this time an Iowa man with a hunting rifle and a dozen rounds of ammunition in the trunk of a car parked near the White House, according to the Associated Press.

Officers arrested R.J. Kapheim, 41, on charges of having an unregistered firearm in the District of Columbia. Police arrested him after he walked up to uniformed officers along 15th street in the early afternoon and said someone told him to drive to the White House. He then led officers to his 2013 Volkswagen Passat and allowed them to search it, where they found the gun and ammunition, as well as a 6-inch knife.

Fortunately, the incident doesn’t count as a breach of White House grounds, unlike other incidents this year.

A Texas man with a knife was able to jump over the White House fence in September and make it close to the White House.

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