Via Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) – Executive Summary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Report on the White House Incursion of September 19, 2014

1. Training: “Due to staffing shortfalls, USSS has not conducted regular training for Uniformed Division Officers. […] the training did not prepare personnel for non-lethal force scenarios such as preventing a noncompliant individual from entering the White House Mansion”
2. Staffing Decisions: “…the seniority-based system by which the USSS schedules the Officers for duty creates situations where junior Officers are overrepresented on a particular shift — which was the case the evening of September 19, 2014”
3. Immediate Response on September 19, 2014: “…several factors specific to the September 19, 2014 incident affected the USSS response that evening: the ongoing construction that limited visibility […] the Emergency Response Team’s reliance on the canine unit and erroneous belief that the bushes were an impassable barrier…”
4. Communication: “A couple of missteps, lack of radio discipline, improper use of equipment, and aging infrastructure contributed to communications failures on the date of the incident that delayed notification to key Officers.”
5. Information Management: “Given the number of distinct databases that contain different information with varying levels of accessibility, many Officers expressed confusion or misunderstandings about various databases. The USSS personnel who interviewed Gonzalez on August 25, 2014 did not have access to information contained within some of the USSS databases, information that may have allowed them to change the tenor and consequences of the discussion with Gonzalez.”