However, several former Secret Service officials warn that the alleged infiltration of the elite security service reveals a significant vulnerability that goes far beyond this case. They said the revelations suggest that agents who had regular access to the White House and the Biden family – and who were supposedly trained to detect swindlers or spies seeking humiliation – were either too greedy or too gullible to challenge a dubious story. “If you can reconcile the Secret Service staff with their agents and their uniformed officers, unwanted sources can reach the president and the first family,” said Jim Helminsky, a retired intelligence officer and former vice president. Joe Biden. . The case is the latest in a string of security breaches and misconduct involving the Secret Service over the past decade. The scandals include agents who got drunk and hired prostitutes on a trip to Cartagena, Colombia in 2012. an incident in 2014 when a wounded veteran was able to jump over the White House fence and overtake dozens of armed intelligence officers and executives. and an officer investigated last year after posting comments on Facebook accusing lawmakers of formalizing President Biden’s victory for treason. According to federal prosecutors, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, appeared as agents of the Department of Homeland Security and offered two agents and two Secret Service officers, as well as a DHS officer, a number of gifts. starting at least in February 2021 and possibly as early as February 2020. Gifts that prosecutors say were accepted included iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat-screen TV, a rifle case, a generator, law enforcement and use Taherzadeh was described as a government vehicle. The FBI also said the two Secret Service uniforms received $ 40,000 a year in free rental apartments from Taherzadeh for about a year at The Crossing, a luxury Navy Yard apartment complex where the two suspects allegedly had unusual control over several apartments. set up surveillance. One of the officers told investigators that Taherzadeh claimed that DHS had approved additional rooms as part of his operations in which the officer could live for free. The other said Taherzadeh claimed that another federal law enforcement officer was living without rent. The FBI said investigations into the building last week found a stockpile of police weapons, passwords to federal agents’ homes and equipment to create personal identity cards that, if properly programmed, could be used to access sensitive individuals. A witness also told authorities that Ali had alleged links to Pakistan’s intelligence service, prosecutors said, although officials said they had found no evidence to support such a claim. Both men, who are accused of impersonating a federal law enforcement official, have denied any wrongdoing. Taherzadeh said he had “no intention of compromising any federal agents” and offered them rich gifts out of a “desire for friendship”, while Ali said he had been seduced into a trick he did not fully understand, according to documents submitted to the federal court on Monday. Prosecutors also revealed in court on Tuesday that an internal Secret Service investigation had mistakenly informed Taherzadeh about the ongoing criminal investigation before the suspects were arrested, urging the FBI and prosecutors to rush for an arrest warrant last week. Men posing as DHS employees pose potential threat to national security, prosecutors say A spokesman for the Secret Service said in a statement that the agency had not harmed national security, but was taking the actions of the officials involved “extremely seriously”. All four are on administrative leave and their security clearances have been temporarily suspended pending an investigation. “The US Secret Service is taking this issue very seriously and is conducting an in-depth, methodical review of all aspects of this incident,” said Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the US Secret Service. “While this is an ongoing investigation, we have not found any evidence of any adverse safety effects or inadequate access to sensitive information, systems or protected sites. “We continue to work closely with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate and prosecute the accused.” In conversations at the Capitol and elsewhere, Secret Service officials stressed the lack of evidence of either foreign involvement or tampered with information, according to people familiar with the conversations, who requested anonymity for details. Instead, service officials say the case is tantamount to a small group of workers who recklessly disappointed their vigilance when they became friends with two men who look like scammers and adventurous cops, the men said. Some former Secret Service agents, however, say the incident shows how easily one could target agency executives to obtain top-secret information about both the president’s moves and national security. They said the agency should look into what weaknesses in politics or education may have allowed the situation to happen – and how it was not discovered by the agency for up to two years. The case was uncovered only after a postal inspector investigated an unrelated alleged attack on a mail carrier in the apartment building, officials said. “The physical protection of the president and vice president is vital to the functioning of our democracy,” said Barack Obama, a former agent who spoke on condition of anonymity to be honest about the vulnerabilities of the secret services. “We have the first female vice president of the minority. Both Biden and Harris are polarizing elements. We are now learning people who have access to… [the White House]”Can Harris and Biden be deceived?” Prosecutors say their investigation is at an early stage as they work to understand the possible scope of the alleged system and the vulnerabilities it has created to the Secret Service, federal law enforcement and national security communities. In a court on Sunday asking the court to arrest the two men, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Graves wrote: “Every hour since their arrest, the government is learning more – and more frightening – information about how Taherzadeh and Ali abused their false power. ” On Tuesday, prosecutors told the court they were now investigating whether bribery took place by offering such valuables. “It concerns us, the types of devices and the graces given, and if any could be bribes,” said Assistant Attorney General Joshua S. Rothstein. “As we mentioned, one of them was protecting the first lady. Others protected the White House and the residence. “When we have agents who may have been violated, it causes us serious concern.” Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, said the White House was not commenting on the ongoing investigation and had referred questions about the incident to the Secret Service. But he said in a statement, “The First Family has the utmost confidence in the USSS and is grateful to them on a daily basis for their service and efforts to keep them safe.” Helminski said he saw no apparent harm or danger to Biden and his family so far. “I will agree that it is not such a big deal, but only because it stopped before it became a big deal,” he added. Helminski and other former agents said several details of the case were of particular concern, including alleged iPhone bids, Ali’s alleged intelligence claim and the apparent willingness of Secret Service officials to accept highly questionable allegations from unknown. “IPhones in my opinion are the most annoying of the items. Portable, [they] “It can be detonated remotely or carry a small explosive device,” Helminski said. “Phones could capture vital information needed to damage information in the president and the first family. “This can be a serious security threat.” Former agents also said it was worrying that the Secret Service was in the dark about the alleged trick and might never have found out if the separate postal investigation had not been carried out. Some have suggested that the agency consider increasing staff scrutiny with annual duplicators, as the FBI and the military do for sensitive positions. Man accused of posing as federal officer says acts were “for friendship” “Current Secret Service safeguards are not enough,” said Obama’s agent. “No ropes were activated here.” Currently, the Secret Service asks agents every five years to renew their top-secret security licenses. The questions are aimed at identifying problems, such as agents who may have leaked information or have financial or personal problems that make them vulnerable to blackmail. In one case, the agency found that a top Obama’s spy was lying to the agency and hiding both long-term and short-term sex with many foreign nationals. Officials learned of the extent of his coverage only after he failed a duplicator in a five-year security clearance update. Taherzadeh and Ali’s lawyers say the two had no criminal plans in mind and that prosecutors “jumped on the wildest conspiracy theories possible over the least evidence.” Defense…
