Intruder was loose outside White House for 17 minutes

A California man carrying Mace roamed for nearly 17 minutes inside the secured White House perimeter before he was taken into custody March 10 near the South Portico entrance, the Secret Service acknowledged Friday.

The man did not enter the White House, the agency said, without further explaining the delay in his capture or details about alarms, protocols or responses that may have failed.

President Donald Trump was in the residence at the time.

Jonathan T. Tran, 26, of Milpitas, California, was detected crossing a five-foot outer fence near East Executive Avenue and the Treasury Department complex at 11:21 p.m. and was arrested at 11:38 p.m., the agency said.

To approach the mansion, Tran scaled two additional barriers, according to the Secret Service account, an eight-foot vehicle gate, then a 3 -foot fence near the southeast corner of the East Wing.

Court documents omitted any reference to alarms sounding and gave only an account by the uniformed officer who saw and arrested Tran, up to 200 yards from where he had entered and after he had at one point hidden behind a pillar.

The agency said it has taken unspecified steps to mitigate lapses in security protocols.

On Friday, a House Oversight Committee ordered the Secret Service to preserve documents in the March 10 episode and deliver a full briefing Monday.

“I worry this is the worst one yet,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said. “The time on the White House grounds really concerns me. With the president in the White House, the intruder was evidently able to hide behind a pillar and get to a door undetected. “It scares me.” The disclosure Friday came as the Secret Service confirmed that a laptop holding sensitive information was stolen from one of its agents in New York City, prompting a multiagency investigation to try to retrieve it.

One law enforcement official said it contained building and security plans for Trump Tower, home of the president and his family.

The official said the laptop was stolen from a vehicle in the driveway of the agent’s home in Brooklyn on Thursday morning. The computer was in a bag that was later recovered, but the laptop was no longer in it, the official said.