Drone puts White House on brief lockdown
A man has been detained by the US Secret Service after he attempted to fly a drone over the White House fence, authorities say.
The man was trying to fly some sort of remote-controlled aerial device less than a block from the White House on Thursday before he was arrested by officers.
Secret Service uniformed officers saw a drone, which was flying approximately 100 feet above Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House at about 1 p.m.
The officers ordered the man to land the drone and then arrested him after he complied with them, authorities said.
The White House was immediately placed on a brief lockdown, but it was lifted later the day. Also, the park on the north side of the White House was placed on lockdown with police conducting investigation.
There were no immediate details available on the suspect and his motive with investigation still underway.
President Barack Obama was not in the White House at the time of incident as he was at Camp David meeting emirs and crown princes of Persian Gulf Arab states.
The incident was the second this year as a small drone flying at low altitude crashed into the White House complex on January 26.
The drone was spotted shortly after 3:00 a.m. on that day by a Secret Service agent on the south grounds of the White House complex.
The officer "heard and observed a 'quad copter' device, approximately two feet in diameter, flying at a very low altitude and ultimately crashing on the southeast side of the complex," the Secret Service said.
The Secret Service is recovering from a series of embarrassing security breaches.
In September 2014, a US war veteran was able to reach deep into the White House with a knife which turned out to be an unprecedented security breach in recent decades.
Also in 2011, it took the Secret Service five days to discover that a man had shot seven bullets at the White House.
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