gonzales going further into the white house than thought. d in the testimony we learned that five rings of security were breached. the committee chairman asking the simple question, how much does it cost to put a lock on the front door of the white house. pointing out that the next attempt to take over the white house could be a planned attack by a terrorist organization. and the most disturbing piece of information coming from mr. cummings who reported when gonzales was arrested, he said, quote, he had a small arsenal of 11 firearms, and also included when they searched his car a map of washington, d.c. with a line drawn to the white house. lisa stark right now in washington, d.c. with us. lisa your reaction so far to what is coming out of this hearing, specifically the fact that there was information that this man was a very, very severe threat. >> well, and in fact there have been reports, and it will be interesting to see if the secret service is asked about this. there have been reports that the secret service turned that information ove

yet it still felt like the white house. the symbol had survived and even increased in power and roosevelt dismissed any critics of the remodd ieling as yahoos. that's all he said. the white house was lived in hard for the next some 40 years. world war i and ii passed by. very little in world war i, world war ii. they lived it down. and it also was threatened with being dangerous for bombs and thing s during the war. we thought we'd be attacked. ms. roosevelt wrote in the summer of '43 and said your father expects los angeles to be bombed this summer. so the great depression was battled from its walls in world war ii. president coolidge in the '20s tore off the attic and added a low-profile third floor. among the many negative documents, a particular one brought a week after pearl harbor called the house a fire trap. roosevelt simply dismissed the report. i don't want to hear it. in 1945 came a president no one had ever heard much about. harry s. truman was a problem solver and considered that he had an appropriate knowledge

president was briefed by officials at the white house. he received a detailed, in person briefing from the oval office. is a subject about which the president expresses obvious concern. this is a topic he has spoken directly to the top officials of the secret service about. i read a statistic that there are about 10 jumpers a month. >> i don't think that is accurate. i would encourage you to go back and check. -- i am justng on saying that what i saw publicly is different than what you are conveying here. i would encourage you to check back with mr. donovan because i am confident he will be as forthright with you as he can. and i want to make sure the information you are presenting to your readers is accurate. here is the thing. we are having the conversation because we care about the details relevant to the president's security. gate crawlers are different than individuals jumping the fence. i am sure mr. donovan can give you a more detailed explanation than i can. it is his responsibility. but there are individuals who arrived at the whi

the white house historical association, the u.s. capitol historical society, and montpelier hosted this event. it is about one hour. >> thank you. our next speaker will be william seale. and to us at the association, he doesn't really need much introduction. he's been a part of our organization as an adviser to our board for at least as the time he published his president's house" in 1986. he's been a mentor to us on the staff with research eeducation, publication. over all those many years and now is the editor of our white house history publication that you all received a complementary copy in your packets. i hope you'll enjoy that and hopefully become a subscriber to our journal and keeping up with the latest research. of course, william seale is an architectural historian and specialist on the restoration and preservation of historic buildings. his handiwork is all over the country in executive mansions and capitols. he's also, of course, published " the president's house, i just mentioned, which is like the, to us, the bible of

intent on harm to the white house and president. not just a demented war vet who even alone might have succeeded. no scenario should be off the table for unneeded 21st-century study of secret service operations in the age of terrorism. has shownearson accomplishments and her 18 months as director. the heroism of the secret the a gone debate. the white house and intruder was brought down by an agent. presidentte house and have been sprung into a new era of danger. the secret service should welcome an outside investigation to assure the necessary resources and the expert backup and structure for the 21st century is necessary to do its job. >> enqueue. >> members may have seven days to submit opening statements for the record. i now ask for unanimous consent that are calling, the gentlelady from texas comments jackson lee be allowed to participate in the hearing. additionally, unanimous consent that our calling, the gentleman for mr.'s -- missouri be allowed to participate. we now welcome our panel of witnesses, the honorable julia pear

he was put in charge of burning the white house. blanchard requested as his main general.quartermaster admiral cockburn contributed in some james pratt. blanchard newhouse to design a fire that had military dignity arson. not smack of he devised his plan. the house was built like an english house of the same general type with a heavy outer skin of stone with thick walls of brick to stabilize it. the white house had about 14 inches of stone and three feet of soft rick backing. allde the structural walls wooden l likeah kindling upon which the plaster was laidth. to blanchard, the wooden parts were the focus. the plan was tonight a house on the second floor. no other part of the house was of interest. the kindling was all to be on the second floor. when set, the firewood quickly burn into the attic causing the attic to collapse where its weight would carry it onto the main floor. by the same design, the mass would fall into the basement where it would burn as in a barbecue pit until all that was burned was gone. this is exactly what ha

te -- mechanism on the white house door, and the person was picked up by police in virginia back in july and they found a small arsenal in his car. take a listen. >> i hate to even imagine what could have happened if gonzales had been carrying a gun instead of a knife when he burst inside the white house. that possibility is extremely unsettling. >> lisa stark you are a veteran of all things washington. one of the things that came out of the hearing today was that the front door on the white house during this assault was not locked. >> exactly. the head of the secret service julia pierson testified there is a glass-type storm door and then the historic wood door. she said the other door wasn't locked, and the other door was in the process of being locked when omar gonzales burst through the door. she said that there are now automatic locks on those doors. that was not in place in september earlier this month when he came through the door and made it all the way to the east room. >> lisa stark for us in washington. we are going to take a short break. that is julia pierson testifying at th

we call him the master and maestro of white house history. in addition to being the editor of "white house history," he is an important author on books on white house history and i have just a few of them here tonight for you to see. in addition to his expertise on the white house, mr. seale is a scholar and sought after wise preservation of a range of historic american buildings. his preservation work is evidence in state c apitols and historic homes across the heartland of america. we are in for a very special treat this evening. although the white house is just across the street, only 200 yards from where we sit tonight, these two men will bring white house history to life for us tonight, right here. please welcome william allman, followed by william seale. [applause] >> roger mudd just said, don't blow it. [laughter] now i am nervous. i was not before. except one attending such a in 1814 inposium washington, we would concur with author beth taylor's 2012 observation that americans today , instead of ducking the anniversary of the burning o

on the white house lawn. state police helicopters by then were chasing him. one landed apparently between the stolen dhoper and the white house itself. secret service agents pulled out shotguns and started shooting as it hovered over the white house. eventually, they came down and wrestled with him on to the ground. eventual eventually, they took him to the hospital to have some buck shot taken out of him before they got him booked. it turns out the pilot was a 20-year-old army pilot. he had been very disappointed to have flunked out of flight training. part of his motive for what he did was he wanted to show off what a good pilot he was. he eventually served about a year of prison and got kicked out of the army. >>> later that same year, it happened again. this time, it happened without air power. this time, it's more amazing that the would-be white house intruder lived to tell the tale. marshal fields, jr., had a chevy impala. used to ram the security gate at the white house and was successful to ram that ga

if somebody is approaching the white house, has penetrated the security, and making a run for the white house, no apparently weapon, can they take that person down? >> the law requires that law enforcement officers ensure that they are in eminent danger or others are in eminent danger before they can use lethal force. >> so if someone is running at the white house they can or cannot use lethal force. >> those will be independent decisions made by the officer based on the totality of the circumstances. >> how do they know that they aren't a terrorist? shouldn't they assume that this person has ill intention? >> law enforcement officers are trained in onning servation skills, and i would assess they are constantly looking at people for ill intentions. >> i think this is confusing. this is part of what they have to deal with. i want it to be crystal clear, you make a run and a dash at the white house, we're going to take you down. i want overwhelming force. would you disagree with me? >> i do want our officers to use appropriate force for anyone attempting to breach the white house. >> the

vaulted over the white house fence. he ran all the way across the white house lawn. got all the way to the north portico doors of the white house. then opened the doors and went inside the building and was not apprehended until he was already inside the white house. if you really want to parse it, technically you could say what i said there was accurate, but honestly, what i just described there is not at all what really happened in that incident in the news. late this afternoon, early this evening, there was just a stunning development in what was already a pretty shocking story. i know the word shocking is overused in the news business. there is something shocking about this. particularly what we learned about it today. it's one thing when you see the president of the united states out working a line or doing an event in front of a large crowd. the president may be taking a little risk in terms of his safety to be out among the people. it's another thing to realize when the president is at home in what is supposedly the most secure building in the country, he's not

. >> he vaulted over the white house fence, he ran all the way across the white house lawn. he got all the way to the north portico doors of the white house, he then opened the doors and went inside the building and was not apprehended until he was already inside the white house. >> technically, what you could say is what i said there is accurate but what i describe there had is not really at all whap in that incident in the news. >> there was just a stunning development in what was already a pretty shocking story. i know the woshd shocking is overused in the news business. but there is something shocking about this. it's one thing when you see the president of the united states working and you're thinking the president mieblgts be taking a lit m bit of a risk. but it is another thing all together to realize that when the president is at home in what is supposedly the most secure building in the country, he's not actually being well protected, nor is his family. the story is almost impossible to believe. tonight, it is almost impossible. when police did finally catch the guy,

the lone gunman firing shots a the white house in twvp. the prostitution scandal involving agents in colombia and night of drinking in march that lead to three being sent home from a presidential trip in amsterdam. the white house stood by the work of the service but there are plenty of questions heading into the morning's hearing. let's go right to chris jansing at the white house. tell us about this. the white house has been supportive of the secret service so far. it's going to change? >> well, on the record? that's what they say. the president has confidence although he also -- josh earnest told us during the daily briefing that the president and first lady were concerned. they have small children and some of these incidents have happened either while one of the children was in the house or just left. this is going to be a tough day for julia pearson. she's a 31-year veteran of the secret service. came from the orlando police department but has been the head of the agency for just 18 months. she was brought in after that prostitution sc

the plan of the white house as people knew it. additions people loved, the conservatory. but he didn't want it. building new wings to the side. one is a new entrance, the other as new offices known today as the west wing. there were bathrooms, coat rooms, storage rooms and modern nickel plated kitchen and all the accommodations needed in a house of state. as well as office space. yet it still felt like the white house.

yet it still felt like the white house. had survived and even increased in power and roosevelt dismissed any critics of the remodeling as yahoos. that's all he said. the white house was lived in hard for the next some 40 years. world war i and ii passed by. very little in world war i, world war ii. they lived it down. and it also was threatened with being dangerous for bombs and things during the war. we thought we'd be attacked. ms. roosevelt wrote in the summer of '43 and said quñ father expects los angeles to be bombed this summer. so the great depression was battled from its walls in world war ii.@! president coolidge in the '20s tore off the attic and added a low-profile third floor.

gonzalez went into the white house. it's our information he was stopped by the virginia state police. they found a map in the car with a line directly to the white house. is that your understanding as well? >> it was a regional map with a line pointed to the memorial area of the mall and the other historic monuments. >> our reports that the virginia state police and the atf then refer that matter to the secret service because presumably because of that line. >> that's correct. yes, the candidate was later referred to the secret service for an interview of mr. gonzales. how to thorough would it have been? they had a thorough initial interview with mr. gonzales and initiated contacts with his family members, mental health history. >> they determined he had a mental health history. >> he acknowledged he had a mental health history as a veteran with ptsd. >> can you obtain his records? >> if the individual consents to the release of their medical records, we do pursue that. in this case, he consented the release of the recor

house in 1903.ddy >> the grant white house. . n 1903 but that's why i'm asking.e'aato t >> they were removed in the 1902 renovation1elqñ and taken to th capitol. as i know the story there was an auction.day you have to auction from the white house or destroy.andelier and so in those days, so the chandeliers were coming up in some members of congress got urious about it. they were the ones from the east room.ey wer so they took them to the capitoh ñd hung means, i believe it was.1aw and two there and then through president -- vice president johnson's influence, one was zñ administration. and then the johnsons returned d it to the capitol. the the capitol didn't give it away. it was in the rules committee at room was the other one. >> my understanding, they are us now at the -- the speaker roomsh side and then the speakers office next door.w that >> i didn't know that. they were originally put in by general grant in the depressionr for his daughter's wedding. natalie's wedding to an englishman which took place in the east room.d up

main floor of the white house. ast room of the white house. there's also been a new shooting here in the nation's capital. secret service agents moved in. how safe is the first family right now? congressman jason chaffetz is here. he's a key member of congress investigating all of this. congressman, we'll talk to you in a moment. so get a seat. "the situation room" will be right back. narrator: this is the storm sea captain: there's a storm comin narrator: that whipped through the turbine which poured... surplus energy into the plant which generously lowered its price and tipped off the house which used all that energy to stay warm through the storm. chipmunk: there's a bad storm comin! narrator: the internet of everything is changing how energy works. is your network ready?" ♪ who's going to do it? who's going to make it happen? discover a new energy source. turn ocean waves into power. design cars that capture their emissions. build bridges that fix themselves. get more clean water to everyone. who's going to take

he had pictures of the white hou house. he had a machete, he had guns and was reported to the secret service. now it is true that all of this is a result of america now having so many of our ranking veterans coming home ill, but this could have been stopped before it even got started. >> had they arrested him and got him mental health perhaps. >> exactly. that's a big problem. an amazing thing here is now we have members of congress rushing back to have hearings on this occasion where the president is declaring war, having 10,000 troops committed yesterday, and yet most of the members of congress would rather be involved in reelection than to deal with the president's authority of war. >> why has congress called this hearing and didn't call a hearing to talk about the war with isis? >> i think it's very difficult for people to understand. very little can get in between a member's campaign to get reelected and the question of whether or not you're declaring war giving the president that authority has a lot more -- >> it's saf

if somebody is approaching the white house, has penetrated the security, making a run for the white house, no apparent weapon, can they take that person down? >> the law requires that law-enforcement officers ensure that they are in imminent danger or others are in imminent danger before they can leverage lethal force. >> if the person is running at the white house with no apparent weapon, they can or cannot use lethal force? >> those will be independent decisions made by officer based on the totality of the circumstances. >> how does the officer know if they have an improvised explosive? should they assume that this person has ill intention? >> law enforcement officers are trained in observation skills. i would assess they are constantly looking at people for ill intentions. >> i think it is confusing. this is part of what they have to deal with. there making split-second decisions. i want it to be crystal clear. you make a dash at the white house, we are going to take you down. i want overwhelming force. would you disagree with me? >> i do want officers and agents to exercise appropriat

get this, a fence jumper getting inside the white house before he stops. right now there are reports that the secret service is thinking of screening people blocks from the white house and furious lawmakers demanding an investigation into how this breach could have happened. some saying the intruder easily could have explosives strapped to his body. we expect the white house press secretary to field questions on this and we'll let you know more as the press briefing gets underway. and turning to another fox news alert, isis terrorists releasing a chilling message threatening the u.s. in a speech released over social media. islamic extremists urging members of the muslim faith to take violent action against disbelievers by any means necessary. this is "outnumbered." here with us today, hashtag one lucky guy, he's back, pete and he's outnumbered. very busy show. we're great to have your military expertise here today. i think we get right to it. >> let's do it. >> let's jump in here. the u.s. drumming up support for the battle against the terrorists to a horri

in both cases, you see the burning of the white house. well, there's other books as well and i can't go into all of them or we'd be here all morning. it's interesting if you go to andy tu lclly's book, "when the burned the white house," that was published in 1961. and then "the man who burned the white house" which is essentially a book by coburn. they don't talk about the burning of washington in the title. they talk about the burning of the white house and just in case you haven't had enough of that, there's the most recent book by peter snow which is "when britain burned the white house." all of these books are great but the question -- or maybe the point that i'm trying to make is that to the average person when they read a title like that, it's going to give them an impression that is not necessarily what really happened in washington, d.c. and i find it ironic that we have three books that talk about the white house, a very important public building, no question about it, where the president lived and it hurt the morale when you burn

dubbing the fence at the white house is not new. that right -- jumping the fence of the white house is not new, is that right? >> correct. >> i understand the president and first family were not at the white house when this took ways, and sometimes the security personnel and secret service do get refocused to address where the president is, and he had just departed. is that correct? >> that is correct. governmentto the reform and oversight committee. it is good to have you here today. thank you. chairman, can i make an inquiry. a reference that the director made two requests and there was objection from this side. could you expand on that? we are not aware of that. >> the two requests that were made. -- we contacted staff and we asked staff to look at it. i asked the staff just now, what is the status of that, and they said -- i said, have we move forward? they said no. i said why. they said some of the members on the other side of the aisle objected to that. i mean, you can object to it -- >> that is my point. we are not aware of th

it cost to lock the front door of the white house. the secret service must show us how there is a clear path back to public trust. the purpose of today's hearing is to gain answers to these many questions plaguing the secret service. today we will hear from experts on both the agency's protocol, foreign and domestic. but most importantly we will hear from the secret service director herself on her plans to improve the agency's performance. americans face real danger as we serve interests abroad, especially those stationed at our embassies. it is a time of great peril. we are engaged in a battle against isil as we speak, but that is not limited to foreign soil. americans know that the next attempt to take the white house may not be by a crazed solo knife-wielding veteran with ptsd. it could well be a planned attack of from a terrorist organization. the fact is, the system broke down on september 19 as it did when the salahis cashed the state dinner 2009. as it did when ortega hernandez successfully shot the white house on november 11, 2

gets into the white house carrying a knife. people jump the fence, but this getting into the house never happened before. >> we are told this is omar gandeza from texas, said to be suffering from ptsd. he will face a judge today over this incident. on saturday, another man arrested for treeing to unlawfully enter the white house. the secret service scrambling to beef up patrols and under surveillance. let's bring in white house correspondent michelle ka sin ski. >> reporter: you know, working at the white house, we are worried about security. >>> it's a matter of junk over the fence an sprint to the front of the residence and walk inside. so now we are going to see more security, more under surveillance, maybe even more bag checks outside, although, that's still being talked about at this point. security outside the white house now is visible, very visible. but it often is. so all the more dumb founding that omar gonzalez was dieblt this around 7:30 friday night. take a look at this video sprinting 20 seconds some 70 yards to a

want and feel it's their home, the white house is their home? >> ralph, thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >>> coming up, the owner of the baltimore ravens is right now responding to an explosive report that the team knew all along about that ray rice video and did everything it could to stop it from getting out. he was asked if anyone will be fired? his response coming up next. it's monday. a brand new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. centurylink your link to what's next. that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone c

now some random guy goes into the white house. leave ought the weird couple that broke into the white house party in 2009. there's clearly something up right? >> yeah. i think that's where you need significant overhaul of procedures. this is a huge embarrassment for the secret service that one guy could get this far with no one stopping him. it brings up the bigger question of security, of a terrorist or someone with a bomb. i guarantee you they're going to look at what happened and be encouraged to say wow, maybe this could be something that we should look at. that's where the secret service should come out in a blunt way and say we've change add procedures, changed how we're doing things. this will never ever happen again. >> here's the other thing. the president came out with a statement and said he had full confidence in the secret service. how can he say that? >> what else is he going to say? i have no fathd in people protecting me? that would make things more chaotic. he has to pretend and probably has to believe the guys pro

of the white house where he was tackled by secret service and arrested. they say he had a folding knife on him at the time. gonzalez has his first court appearance later on today. but the security around the white house is being reconsidered in light of what happened. they're reviewing their procedures. and actually we have seen quite a few secret service vehicles patrolling the area, more than we normally see. they are also looking at other possible security precautions such as me screening check points. at this point, no changes have been made. it's in the discussion phase. but they are taking a look at a number of different options. reporting live on pennsylvania avenue, megan mcgrath. news 4. back to you in the studio. >>> thank you, megan. a second man tried to get on white house grounds saturday. he tried to drive past a barricaded entrance to the property. he did not hit the barricades or cause any damage the. but he was arrested and charged with unlawful entry. >>> charlottesville police have now named a person of interest in the disappearance of u

the people at the white house are in charge of the president's security and keeping the white house safe. those are done in washington or around the country in other places. so then why not the focus on the procedures and the right amount of manpower at the white house? >> clearly this is a booming lapse in security. both in public security and private security. sometimes you see people get complacent if they're not tested. and i wonder if they've run tests on their own security within the white house security scheme because that's the best way to determine vulnerabilities in your security system. >> i just want to ask you something. i don't know if you saw on the "the situation room," the chairman of the house oversight committee of national security, jason chafe-its told our wolf blitzer this this afternoon. listen and then we'll talk about it. >> what is the protocol? why is it that the white house -- i'm sorry, the secret service, they issue a statement that said that the intruder, the guy who hopped the fence had no weapon? ends up he did have a weapon. why is it they said he stoppe

we're learning now information about the man who jumped the fence at the white house. sturbing information as a matter of fact. i'm going to bring in a former fbi assistant director. tom, here's the information that back in july on july 19th he was found and he had some information in his car including a rifle and then also some information with landmarks on it and then again in august he was found with different things at the white house with a hatchet. nothing happened there. and then the latest one on september 19th where he gets inside the white house. 800 rounds of ammunition and also some other weapons, a hatchet as well. what is going on here? >> i think obviously, don, these extremely mentally disturbed and we don't know what he was thinking of or he may have had a number of ideas of what kind of attention he wanted to get whether it was an attack on the white house with gunfire, whether it was run up to the front door. we just don't know all of that. the way that fence is constructed on the north side, you can shoot through the fence. if he pulled a gun out of

yet it still felt like the white house. ad survived and even increased in power and roosevelt dismissed any critics of the remodeling as yahoos. that's all he said. the white house was lived in hard for the next some 40 years. world war i and ii passed by. very little in world war i, world war ii. they lived it down. and it also was threatened with being dangerous for bombs and things during the war. we thought we'd be attacked. ms. roosevelt wrote in the summer of '43 and said quñ father expects los angeles to be bombed this summer. so the great depression was battled from its walls in world war ii.@! president coolidge in the '20s tore off the attic and added a low-profile third floor. president franklin met with the corps of engineers after pearl harbor, and among the many negative documents, a particular one brought a week after pearl harbor called the house a fire trap. roosevelt simply dismissed the report. i don't want to hear it. in 1945 came a president no one had ever heard much about. harry s. truman was a problem

more security at the entrances to the white house. can you imagine what the country would be going through if that person was wearing a vest bomb. we have seen what happens in some of the suicide attacks. one person can take out a very large part of the white house. i think it is a very serious matter. i have to believe you can patrol that perimeter in a better way, even if you have guards on the fence, but there is more security that could be added so we don't have to turn the white house into more of a fortress. >> not to make us all into armchair security experts here, there is a piece about the culture of the secret service and the fact that certain agents when there was a shooting in 2011 didn't feel like they could go to their superiors with the information they thought a gunman may have shot the white house. that is something that we have seen as a recurring theme here. i mean that seems like something that whoever is in that position is going to have to really make a systemic change at the secret service. >> absolutely. i think

. >>> trouble at the white house. let's play "hardball." ♪ ♪ >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews in philadelphia. home of the 3-0 eagles. anyway, lots of news tonight. all pretty startling. start with the guy jumping the fence in front of the white house, right there on pennsylvania avenue. then sprinting right into the president's house itself through the formal entrance known as the north port co-. what if someone from isis decided to try that route? speaking of which, we have a top u.s. official now saying that some americans who joined isis in iraq and syria have come home to the states. add to this the latest audio tape from the terrorist group saying, we americans will not feel safe even in our bedrooms. >>> we have a look at this incredible opportunity for the democrats in kansas to win this november. it's in kansas of all places, i said. and speaking of wind, what do you make of the fact that 3 300,000 people showed up in new york to demand action to climate change. >>> right now to the threat of the white hou

listen. >> the white house didn't just pay attention to it. they were preoccupied with other crises. this was not a big priority. sounds a lot different what the intelligence community is saying and what this white house is saying. >> well, the leader of the intel against community is jim clapper. and today he put out a message to the intelligence community that directly contradicts the anonymous individual quoted in the "new york times" today. >> reporter: and in that message, james clapper says he's proud of their work this trying to identify this threat, but says they could not have known that the iraqi forces weren't able to stand up to them. >> ed, thanks a lot. let's get context on this. dennis ross is with us. served as secretary adviser to hillary clinton. he dates back to the administration of ronald reagan. mr. ambassador, thank you. >> good to be with you. >> one who asks a lot of questions about this, i realize that there are so many organizations that the american people have never heard of. dozens more organizations that they have

that led up to the white house. i want to know how do they -- there are all kinds of layers, chris, that should have sounded the alarms. suppose we've got 12 and 13 folks jumping that fence. what would have happened then? there's one issue that really bothers me. that is there seems to be a climate or a culture where officers or secret service agents are afraid or they don't have confidence that they can let their superiors know exactly what happened. >>> in this kind of organization, chris, the most elite security force in the world, in the world, as far as protection is concerned, and the most guarded house in the world, this just does notwork. i'm trying to figure out exactly how it is that folks feel more comfortable acting as whistle blowers as opposed to going to their superiors. that's a problem. >> that's a really good point. part of the intrigue here, part of what's astonishing about this isn't just the change of events. it's the way those events had come to life and the trajectory of that information which

i'm not saying the white house is lying at all. listen, we tell our clients in 15 seconds, tell the truth all the time. >> but you're not troubled by it? >> yes, of course, because they're not telling the whole truth. example, the pentagon says we are not targeting isis leadership. oh, they're not telling the whole truth. the cia is targeting isis leadership with drones. it's just like we are not targeting with our particular aircraft. why can't the american people know that? isis knows that. why can't the american people know that? >> you're suggesting there are people running this war, of course, there is civilian control and barack obama is the commander in chief. but the pentagon, defense secretary hagel are really at liberty to say what they think? >> that's exactly what i'm saying. there have been leaks in the pentagon, the lack of confidence in any strategy doesn't include boots on the ground. >> there haven't been any leaks. after 14 years of war, the pentagon has figured out how to tighten up the leaks. even the finest repo

how can we leave the front door of the white house unlocked? >> so you're not yet ready to say she should resign but you have serious concerns, is that the bottom line? > well, i went into this hearing believing that just some mistakes were happening. i find it very difficult for this particular director to establish credibility. and with that, i believe that not only myself but others will call for her resignation. >> congressman meadows, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> congressman elijah cummings, the ranking member of that committee, is getting ready to join us as well. we'll get his thoughts on what he heard. also coming up, isis chat rooms luring westerners, young ones, the recruiters out there are answering questions about how much isis pays its fighters. we have details coming up. also isis moving closer and closer to a critical border town in syria. this is a development that could seriously complete their conquest along the turkish border. turkey is a nato ally. we've got a live look coming up. ♪ who's going to do it?

nothing overflies the white house. e aircraft was so large and so low, it drowned us out in our conversation we were trying to have. when someone ran to the window and saw a big white jet in a hard left turn heading west, we just froze and stared at each other. breaking news -- fire and explosions over at the pentagon. as it turned out the pentagon was struck by american airlines flight 77, which originated out of dulles, just 15 miles to the west of washington d.c. it also was headed to the west coast. it went as far as ohio, came back in to washington, d.c., made a hard right turn and crashed into the west side of the pentagon. this aircraft was none other than the air force e4b, a command and control aircraft probably at andrews air force base just to the east of the white house. it scrambled trying to get close to the president down in florida in case the president wants to get to this operation, this battle station, and for whatever reason, it made a left turn out of andrews and broke white house airspace rather th

someone in the white house was trying to down play it to the press. bill: there is a white house source that says they misreported it intentionally to down play the story. from a national security standpoint do you think that's defensible? >> we are five weeks from the election and you have got to get all the facts out. if you are trying to cover up to to debright's not good. that's the question for both republicans and democrats will be grilling the head of the secret service in about an hour. bill: secret service did in the lock down areas of the white house. and when that happens officers on duty don't have any knowledge of it which leads you to believe basic protocols weren't followed here. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories we have seen in years. what if it had been a coordinated attempt by a dozen people. if one person can get that far, that's what's so startling to many americans and the lawmakers who will be answering questions today. bill: they put up a second fence? >> now they are erecting more barrier to the white house. this was so

area, pointing to the white house. and so a lot of questions are being raised about why he wasn't on their radar and, of course, the big question, how did he get over the fence and go through the front door. that door is now locked. you mentioned stepped up foot patrols, stepped up surveillance. also conversations about should they do something around the perimeter of the white house, should people have to go through security. so many people, hundreds of people every day to take tours of the white house. are they going to have to change those protocols. but there is an investigation that is ongoing. there is obviously a sense of urgency, although the president when asked about it today at an event having nothing to do with this, obviously, said he has confidence in the secret service. we do know, though, that on friday night and not surprisingly, he was updated on a regular basis several times throughout the evening. and throughout the weekend about this ongoing investigation. pat and jim? >> nbc's chris jansing live at

so -- and entered the white house in 1929. so lou was very much in the washington social circle to the extent that she wasn't in california or working with her girl scouts. but lou was considered to be a tremendous style icon, emulated and believed to be one of the best-dressed women in washington. she is also, when she became first lady, one of the first -- excuse me -- the first lady to be photographed for vogue magazine and vogue does a photo shoot on every first lady now. this is one of our day dresses. we can see that that soft dressing style began to show with grace coolidge is still dominating today -- when she is first lady. these are some photographs -- and i want to give a special appreciation to mar cuss eckheart here on the staff of the hoover, who went up into storage and pulled two dresses for me so i could show you some of the detail of the things that lou wore. lou has an exquisite eye for style and color. these are things that sometimes are not remembered. this particular dress is actually in gold beads -- excu

obviously just to the north face of the white house security. how was omar gonzalez able to bond out with the arsenal of guns and weapons inside of his suv a few months ago? state police say only one of the guns found in the vehicle was the sawed-off shotgun. kay granger he was expected to hear that case next month. -- a grand jury was expected to hear that case next month. that is the latest live outside of the white house, robert lyles, abc 7 news. >> as for how someone was able to get all the way into the white house, the secret service says that is "unacceptable" and an investigation is underway. they will review staffing and how threats are assessed. >> montgomery county police are asking for your help in the search for two missing children. the police began handing out these flyers to businesses, looking for them to look through their security video for the children or specific vehicles. today marks two weeks since abducted sarahe and jake up. she is now under arrest, but she will not tell the police where the children are. the children's f

>>> explosive new information about the armed white house intruder. just how far he made it inside the president's home before he was stopped. this as the head of the secret service faces tough questions on capitol hill. is he able to keep the president safe? >>> isis fighters gaining ground this morning, inching closer to baghdad and key syrian city as the terrorists release new video. live coverage breaking down the angles. >>> thousands and thousands of protesters filling the streets of hong kong. look at that. these pro democracy demonstra demonstrators demanding a change in the government. we are live with where all this is headed. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. good morning. the tough oversight hearing of the director of the secret service is facing this morning got tougher. we know the man who jumped the white house fence made it farther into the white house than previously reported. cnn's jim acosta has the story. >> reporter: hernandez made it farther into the whit

the u.n. assembly this week. back here, senior whited reporters 15,000 from 80 countries are flying in and out of iraq and syria. we have no way of confirming those numbers. among the 30 plus americans the government is aware of, some have returned to the u.s. and are now under surveillance, according to those unnamed officials. nbc news reports at least eight americans have been arrested on their way to join military factions in syria. the u.n. security council on wednesday chaired by president obama himself. put in place a legal framework to prosecute those who join isis. while in new york, president obama will also meet with iraqprime minister whose government is a key part of the u.s. strategy to rally support against isis. isis continued to gain ground in syria where attacks in the north sent over 130,000 syrian kurds fleeing over the border into turkey. it's one of the greatest refugee surges since the start of the war. the challenge confronting the "moderate opposition" with the obama administration has approval to arm and train.

the scheme of things? >> not much. overall, this whitet talking about obamacare, that's a good thing, i think, for democrats. >> but if we're not talking about the economy, if the media aren't focused on the economy, that is not such a good thing? >> yes. and the problem with the white house is the economy has gotten better. but the polls show that people don't think it's gotten better. that's a huge problem and a boom for republicans. >> who won the media week in terms of the coverage. >> i think it was democrats this week. president obama delivered several speeches at the u.n. that helped boost his party. eric holder's resignation means that the news is in their court this week. that's typically good for democrats. >> despite all the criticism on the right from holder's tenure? >> yes. because all of that is basically baked in at this point. but right now, eric holder, they're talking about legacy. >> last time i said republicans. i'm going to say democrats this time. why? republicans haven't been able to knock out these red state incum