White House bomb scare: US Secret Service officers being hired without proper security clearances?

The emergency evacuation at White House Press Briefing room has again turned the spotlight on the US Secret Services which has been reportedly rushing to hire officers in large numbers, recruiting dozens even without proper security clearances.

According to a Washington Post report, the US Secret Services is suffering from an “administrative backlog” as a result of higher-than-normal rate of recruitment in the aftermath of a series of security lapses at the White House.

As a result, several dozens of new officers were being hired and posted at the White House even before completing their security clearance process, the Washington Post reported citing two government officials.

US Representative Mark Meadows, who got to know of this problem by none other than Secret Service Director Joseph P Clancy in a private conversation, told the Post that newly hired officers were present at crucial White House meetings in which classified material was shared.

The US Secret Services has however taken fresh steps to speed up the clearance process to clear the administrative backlog, spokesman Brian Leary said Tuesday.

The report about the negligence by the US Secret Services comes after a bomb threat led to a temporary evacuation at the White House Press Briefing Room during a live television conference.

Secret Service officers rushed to interrupt the live press conference and evacuated the James S Brady Briefing Room shortly after 2 pm. After 20 minutes, the briefing room was declared all-clear and the reporters returned to the scene.