Third WH Party Crasher a 'Party Promoter'

For a minute there I thought this guy was former Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams. According to this report he's a party planner. So nice to see the White House and Secret Service are doing their best to keep the uninvited off White House grounds.

A third uninvited guest made his way into the White House state dinner for India's prime minister in November, the Secret Service said Monday.

As the Secret Service was reviewing how an attention-hungry couple - Tareq and Michaele Salahi - got into the dinner without being on the guest list, officials discovered that a third person made it through security without an invitation as well. The Secret Service said the man - whom they would not identify - did not get close to the president or the first lady.

The Washington Post, citing an anonymous congressional source, identified the third uninvited guest as Carlos Allen, a party promoter based in Washington.

The Secret Service is investigating the Salahis, and the Justice Department is looking into whether they broke any laws. The Secret Service said the other man they just learned of is now under investigation as well.

The man traveled to the White House from the hotel where the Indian delegation was staying. The Secret Service said the man arrived with members of that delegation. But he was not in the Secret Service's database of people prescreened and approved to attend the event. Part of the security screening is a criminal background check that the Secret Service does before a guest enters the White House. The Salahis and the man traveling with the Indian delegation did not go through that background check.

But the Secret Service said all three uninvited guests went through other screening, such as metal detectors, before the event.

The man is a U.S. citizen and was with a group of Indian business leaders before the state dinner, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation. The Indian embassy asked the State Department to transport the group to the White House dinner, the official said, adding that it's rare for the agency to provide these services to delegations visiting the United States in a nonofficial capacity.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the agency has reviewed the incident and already made changes for how it handles foreign delegations.

This report has Allen denying he was there.

Naturally, this most transparent administration ever knew of the third party crasher since mid-December and didn't say anything.

The White House declined to comment about the breach, although an administration official, who asked to speak without attribution, said the White House has known about the third crasher since mid-December.

"This individual went through all required security measures along with the rest of the official delegation at the hotel," according to a statement released by the Secret Service. "At present, there is nothing to indicate that this individual went through the receiving line or had contact with the President or first lady."

Look for the blame to fall on the State Department.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said the new discovery may implicate not only the Secret Service, which is under the jurisdiction of the Homeland Security Committee, but also the State Department: "This incident, along with the terror attempt on a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day by Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab may well show that the State Department is a weak link in U.S. security."

If Dick Cheney said that all hell would break loose.

In hindsight this could be a blessing. Our enemies may laugh themselves to death over our ineptitude.