Panel Calls For Secret Service Shake-Up

An independent panel on Thursday called for extensive changes at the Secret Service, including hiring hundreds of new agents, implementing more intensive training, building a higher fence around the White House and appointing the next director from outside the security elite. The four-member panel was created in October after a series of security gaffes, including a Sept. 19 incident in which a man scaled the White House fence and was able to reach inner parts of the mansion before he was stopped. “The problems exposed by recent events go deeper than a new fence can fix,” the report said. “We believe that at this time in the agency’s history, the need for Service experience is outweighed by what the Service needs today: dynamic leadership that can move the Service forward into a new era and drive change in the organization.”