14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday night, the White House perimeter entered into a security lockdown state after a drone crashed on the presidential property.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, were on a state visit to India when the incident occurred.
A quadcopter this size would not be able to carry weaponry, but it can be equipped with cameras and used for spying purposes.
Incident led to a two-hour security lockdown
In this case, it seems that the drone was manned by someone for recreational purposes, as an individual admitted flying the device over the White House property, unintentionally, the Associated Press reports.
“Initial indications are that this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device,” the news agency learned from Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary.
Even if the incident was unintended, it created a lot of ruckus, the property staying in lockdown from 3 AM until about 5 AM, with emergency services being deployed to the property immediately after the drone crashed on the southeast grounds.
Secret Service officers scoured the premises using flashlights to search under the bushes and managed to find the drone.
Small drones may pose a serious security risk at White House
The security measures at the White House are obviously of the highest level. Snipers are positioned at all times on the roof of the building, and a radar system exists in order to detect flying objects entering the airspace of the protected perimeter.
However, all this may be insufficient to bring down a potential threat, such as a flying object the size of the drone that crashed on the presidential property, which can move low to the ground, especially at night.
If it flew higher, snipers would have a hard time hitting it and the risk is that their bullets go into civilian buildings. Closer to the ground, the object may be more difficult to detect.
The snipers protecting the White House are said to be the best in the world and they test their shooting accuracy on a monthly basis, on targets set at 1,000 yards / 914.4 meters.
It is unknown if at the time of the incident the daughters of the presidential couple were at the mansion, although they did not accompany Barack Obama and his wife on their trip to India.