Report finds security lapses at VP Biden’s Delaware home

A Congressional report critical of the Secret Service highlights problems with the agency’s protection of Vice President Joe Biden’s Greenville, Del. home.

Among the failures found in the report was a January incident in which gunshots were fired outside Biden’s home. The shooting was not captured on surveillance cameras because the agency did not have any cameras that faced the main road in front of the home. 

In another incident in 2013, four young adults breached the perimeter security at Biden’s Delaware residence and went fishing in the Vice President’s backyard. The report states that Secret Service agents were unaware of the breach until a neighbor noticed and called the agency. 

The report was put together for the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It states that dramatic reforms are necessary. “Internal USSS data shows that morale is further harmed because many employees do not have confidence in agency leadership,” the report stated. “Some whistleblowers told the Committee they believed this was due to a culture where leaders are not held accountable.”

The report blames the problem in part on a budget-related hiring freeze and a high level of attrition that has left remaining personnel overworked. It also recommends returning the agency’s focus on its core mission of protecting the President and others, rather than on peripheral investigations.

You can read the complete report on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s website.