Historic building. The second event that happened this month when an armed man jumped the security fence and made it into the white house. The first assailant ever to get inside. We were first led to believe gonzalez was apprehended just inside the white house front door but now the secret is out. Thanks to Washington Post reporting, we have learned this incident was far more serious than the agency had initially let on. Omar gonzalez jumped the fence, ran across the white house lawn, up the steps of the front portico and into the white house. He was arminged with a threeinch serrated knife. He entered through an unlocked door past the staircase to the president ial residence and into the east room of the white house. In addition to the failure of several layers of security, the front door was unlocked, the alarm box disabled. Apparently some white house staffers complained that the noise had bothered them. The concern was when these alarms were put into place in proximity to other activities within the white house, it could be an interference, such as tour lines or other public events. All these lapses coming from an agency that estimates president obama faces three times, three times the number of threats that his predecessors faced. Its very difficult for the secret service when these individuals come to our attenti attention, as many as 300 a year or a day are being evaluated by our office of protective intelligence. Many are brought to attention for having unusual direction of interest or making a direct threat against our protectees. As of yesterday, they were directly overseeing 327 investigations. Nbcs luke russert has been following the action on the hill all day. Theres certainly been a lot to follow there. What did you learn from the hearings today . Its interesting. Usually when you have a hearing like this derived from a bombshell report, often youll at least have some members of congress to try and help the member whos being before the committee. Usually thats if the democrats have a democratic person in front they want to help them out, derived from the administration. This time it was open season on director pearson, from both the right and the left, getting at her about a systematic failure within the secret service. Not only for the latest incident that happened a few weeks ago where were learning new horrific details that this individual got through an unlocked door and came to the stairwell where the first familys residential quarters is and was tackled by an offduty secret Service Agent. I thought the most interesting line of attack was the 2011 incident. Just what you mentioned, four days, seven shots. No understanding of how that could have occurred. The simple answer is there is a flaw in the chain of command. People didnt know about it. When you get into this its the hierarchy within this organization really is the problem. From agents weve heard of, they say, you cant speak out and Say Something is not working because of fear something bad will happen to you. Thats what director pearson is trying to change. Interesting enough, the crux of the Important Information will come out now within the closed door session of that hearing, the classified part. This is where shell describe to the members the classified information regarding how the secret service particular specifically protects the president and next steps to make him and his family safer. She also mentioned the sequester cuts that happened to the secret service have been detrimental. They feel they are below the Adequate Funding level. She said about 550 people below optimal levels in terms of being able to exercise what they want to do as a force. Thats an issue. Ill wrap up with this. I think when you hear how close that these two individuals came, one with the highpowered rifle in 2011, this other gentleman a few weeks ago, it has to be disconcerting for the obama girls to understand they were so close to danger in a place thats supposed to be the safest house in the world. I think thats whats starting to get the anger of republicans and democrats is how can that happen in 2014 with the nations first black president . We need answers. Theyre not satisfied with what they got today. Absolutely, luke. Thank you so much as always. Lets turn to editoratlarge for the week who has written for years about the inner workings of the secret service agency. Thanks for being with us. Starting with the shooting incident that happened several years ago l years ago were now just learning the details of, which are obviously incredibly troubling, from the Washington Post reporting they said that officer Kerry Johnson told several Senior Officers she thought the house had been hit but she did not challenge her superiors for fear of being criticized. Thats what she later told investigators. Speak to the culture of an agency where the officers on the ground who heard shots, who smelled shots, who saw debris falling did not feel like they could challenge their superiors in this situation . If that is, indeed, true, if she felt particularly with regard to something that could have been an attempted assassination of the president , that she couldnt communicate that to supervisors or she felt she would somehow be retaliated against, if that, indeed, is the cull tufr have tour of the secret service, middle Level Management, particularly uniform division, its unthinkable. And it does speak to a very significant problem. When you talk to superiors what theyll say is, well, no one comes to us. Of course, we take those complaints seriously. Why wouldnt we take a complaint . Why wouldnt we take a report someone had heard bullets falling and had seen debris falling . You have what officers say at lower levels and what upper management believes. Theres the daytoday field managers, lieutenants, deputy special agent in charge of certain details where there seems to be this disconnect between officers and agents below them feel about their ability to have voices heard in the organization and what actually happens. Let me jump in. That makes sense. When you look at the management piece, they seem to be less than forthright when dealing directly with congressional oversight on these incidents. In that case, i think we have to just look at the context of the way these investigations generally play out. Almost always the first reports, the first reporting in the immediate aftermath of Something Like this. People tend to get the details wrong. I can think of a dozen incidents in the bush and Obama Administrations where various Agency Directors said something that turned out not to be true because the informationgathering process is so complex. Theres no look, its very easy for congress at this stage to accuse the director of misleading congress. She has absolutely no reason. In fact, it would be completely to her disadvantage to Mislead Congress because theyll find out eventually. I dont think thats an issue here. I think the issue here is truly about fostering a culture inside the secret service where employees feel empowered to speak out without fear of retributi retribution. Where they feel they can be promoted without towing the party line particularly when it comes to sensitive security issues. Thats part of it. I want to bring in former secret Service Agent to get at another part of this. As luke just referenced, part is perhaps a resource issue, sequestration has led, as secret Service Director said today, as secret service having 500 fewer agents. In marks piece, he said years of leaner budget have left the secret service, especially the uniform division, which guards the white house, under strength for years. The incident was only a matter of time. Do you think that resource issue is part of the problem here, sir . Yes. But you cant look at that in in a box. The resource issue, conveniently what the director didnt bring up is the fact that tons of resources, personnel, financial resources, are used to investigate financial crimes, which it pains me to say, because i loved that agency, the secret service doesnt need to do that. The fbi can do it. It seems to be a convenient backdrop, especially when they want to make a political football out of it. The secret service are cut back in a number of areas and allocate it more towards protection. And they dont. They should be cautious, people of either party as accepting that as an excuse. Im right with you on that. Secret service has an annual budget of 1. 6 billion. Its hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that just with more resources, maybe they could have decided to lock the door, maybe they would have said those were actual gunshots we heard, but what we have here is a management problem it seemed like and poor judgment. This is not something about more resources. What needs to be done . If you were to talk to rank and file agents, the men and women that do the jobs. I worked with them for years. They are some of the finest people i have met. They could find you so many cost savings within the secret service, bloated management staffs, pampering of upper Level Management while they get their overtime cut. These are the kind of things that start to hurt. It has an effect on morale, too. You want an organization that takes care of their men and women, rank and file first, and makes them feel wanted. I feel like the agency hasnt done that. Theyve taken care of themselves, the insulated upper management and anded the officers and agents, you know, to basically fend for themselves against the staff and everyone else out there. Dan, very quickly, do you think we need a change at the top in order to change the agency . I think we do. I think we may need an outside director, not within the secret service. Thank you both so much. Up next, heavy rains not deterring those protests in hong kong at this hour. This is not going away. Why the world should be watching. And head to the president s highstakes meeting with israeli Prime Minister netanyahu, that is tomorrow. Does the past hold the key to mid east peace in the future . The cycle rolls on for this last day in september. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Thats a good thing, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call today to request a free decision guide. With these types of plans, youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. Join the millions who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. And provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. With all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. Call now to request your free decision guide. O0 uh, and i know my iq. Okay. Uh, and i knowuhi know what blood type i have. Oh, wow uh huh, yeah. I dont know my credit score. You dont know your credit score . I dont know my credit score. Thats really important. I mean i dont know my credit score. Dont you want to buy a house. Like, ever . You should probably check out credit karma, its free. Credit . Karma . Free . So, thats. How much . Thats how much its free. Credit karma really free credit scores. Cycling right now a tense calm on the streets of hong kong tonight, just hours from the 65th anniversary of the founding of modern communist china. The tear gas and riot police we saw this past weekend have now ended. Pro democracy protesters, many young and disenfranchised have been allowed to continue their demonstrations. They continue to do so despite heavy rain. Now, democracy may not be a ward you associate with china, but think of hong kong as a sort of subcountry of china. Afforded many more freedoms than the rest of the country but these demonstrators are fighting for much more. You ask them to reform. Good to see all losing power. Tonight in hong kong those protesters are stockpiling supplies, constructing makeshift barricades. Law enforcement will move back in with a vengeance when the sun rises once again. Ian williams filed this report a short time ago. Reporter on the eve of chinas national day, this is one powerful message from hong kong. Tens of thousands of people on the street here tonight demanding real democracy. Demanding the right to choose their own leader. Now, the atmosphere is festive. The only thing theyve had to do with umbrellas is fend off a heavy rain storm. The police appear to have just melted away. The violence of the weekend very much on peoples mind. No sign of the riot police today. Instead, we have a festive atmosphere. People bringing supplies in for the students, support for the students. We have water being handed out. We have the students organizing teams to pick up and collect and take away the rubbish. Now, tomorrow, national day, this is expected to develop and to turn into a very, very big protest. Whats more difficult to say is whether chinas communist leaders are, of course, willing or able to listen. A yam williams, hong kong. Thanks so much. Lets bring in brian walsh, Senior Editor for time whos overseeing all their coverage of this crisis. As weve been talking about on the break, over in hong kong and in china, you see protests come up every once in a while. What has surprised me about this is just the size. The crowds we have seen on the streets. Often with uprisings theres frustration with government and also frustration with the economy. When it comes to hong kong, the economy is just fine. Is this a situation you think is sustainable or do you see it dying out . The economy is somewhat of an issue. Levels of inequality are very high there. You see university and High School Students concerned about their future job opportunities. Youre absolutely right. I think no one expected these protests would achieve this kind of size. They had been bubbling for a while. But it was really the police overreaction, the tear gas, the forceful reaction over the weekend that caused a lot of people to come out and hong kong to rally around these protesters. Thats the initial response. The larger game china seems to be playing is to incrementally promise certain reforms. Youll get a popular vote, a democracy, a 017 election. When you look at the details after they splay and push it along, no, it turns out everything will be screened through beijing and youve had a lot of the educated class in hong kong try to call them out on that. Is this working as a way to deal with a sort of delayed repression from china . I mean, this is really built into the relationship between hong kong and main lang china. One land, two systems. Hong kong has its systems of law. Free speech, preright to protest. China still maintains overall political control. At some point theres going to be a conflict. Maybe we finally reached that point. 2017 was to be the sim when hong kongers were to elect their chief executive but china is playing games with exactly what that is. You can vote for candidates but we get to pick who they are. Theyre holding the strings. You lived there for five years. Part of what happened is when an yishl level 6 protests came out, the police came out so hard against them that that made people respond more forcefully. They mark tianmen square. They said, we have to protest more forcefully. That memory is very strong in hong kong. They they do a vigil every june 4th. As it disappears in china, so theres a lot of fear on the part of people there. Theres concern, will the police come out in a stronger way. Would you even see chinese troops come out . Thats certainly not going to happen but thats definitely in peoples mind and theres fear, once you have the holiday tomorrow and the next day, no one knows whats going to happen on friday or the day to follow that. And hong kong is a major financial center, third after new york and london. Business Community Getting nervous there . The Business Community is already nervous. Theyre not in favor of these actions. They want hong kong to be a good place to do business. The more chinese hong kong bction, i mean more mainland chinese becomes, that actually takes away from hong kongs, i think, success as an International Place to do business. The fact you have a system of law so you dont have a Mainland China is big selling point. On one hand, they dont want to see this disruption or see china where beijing is cracking down hard on hong kong. The United States is smartly staying out of it. Thank you for being here with us. We appreciate it. Some breaking news out of louisville, kentucky. Police are hunting for a school shooter. At least one student is hurt with now lifethreatening injuries. Fern Creek High School has been evacuated as officers search the surrounding neighborhoods. Police call this an isolated incident but wont know for certain until the suspect is caught. They wont say if the gunman is a student at that school. Well continue to monitor the story and let you know if anything develops. Uhhh. No, that cant happen. Thats the thing, you dont know how long it has to last. Everyone has retirement questions. So ameriprise created the exclusive. Confident retirement approach. Now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. Well, knowing gives you confidence. Start building your confident retirement today. Then boom. What happened . Stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what . Lets build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. Introducing the sleep number bed with sleep iq™ technology. It tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. The difference . Try adjusting up or down. Youll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. Only at a sleep number store, mattresses