‘Crash’ inaccurate, says chief of agency

WASHINGTON – The new director of the Secret Service went on the offensive Thursday on Capitol Hill, disputing characterizations in news reports that two senior agents crashed a government vehicle into a security barrier at the White House after a night of drinking earlier this month.

“Previous reports of a crash are inaccurate – there was no crash,” Joseph Clancy said during a hearing by a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “The video shows the vehicle entering the White House complex at a speed of approximately 1 to 2 mph, and pushing aside a plastic barrel. There was no damage to the vehicle.”

Clancy also told lawmakers that some video recordings of the March 4 incident have been erased and the agency is working to recover them.

Earlier this month the Washington Post first reported that a pair of senior agents drove a government vehicle into a White House security barrier after a night of drinking on March 4. The Post has said in its news accounts of the incident that agents “drove into,” ‘’struck” and “hit” the barricades, although a separate editorial by the Post on March 12 described the agents as “allegedly crashing” into the barrier.

Multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press and CNN, initially described the incident March 4 as a crash.

Although denying reports of a crash, Clancy repeated his concerns that it took five days for him to learn about the incident.

Clancy also repeated an earlier pledge to carry out appropriate discipline if a Homeland Security IG’s investigation concludes the agents had been drinking before the March 4 incident – or if anyone else tried to cover up the incident.