Despite the Secret Service failing to stop a man from reaching and entering the White House on Friday, President Barack Obama said that he still supports the agency tasked with his family’s protection.

“The President has full confidence in the Secret Service and is grateful to the men and women who day in and day out protect himself, his family and the White House,” according to spokesman Frank Benenati.

The incident Friday was the second this month involving a man jumping the White House fence on Pennsylvania Avenue. This time, around 7:20 p.m., 42-year-old Army veteran Omar Gonzalez was able to run all the way to the door on the North Portico and was not apprehended until actually entering the building. He also had a four-inch knife on him when arrested, according to NBC News.

The stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the executive mansion has been closed to traffic since the 1990s in the wake of the Oklahoma City federal building bombings, but it’s still open to pedestrians. At any given moment, one can usually find a throng of tourists, joggers, protesters, and an abundance of Secret Service officers.

But something must have broke down during the Friday incident, an unprecedented breach of security. On Saturday, the agency said, with some degree of understatement, that “the location of Gonzalez’s arrest is not acceptable.”

White House spokesman Benenati also said “we are certain [ the Secret Service investigation] will be done with the same professionalism and commitment to duty that we and the American people expect from the U.S. Secret Service.”

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Homeland Security committee, said that what happened on Friday was unacceptable.

Post by Fox News Sunday.

The ability of Gonzalez to make it all the way to the door, and inside the White House have drawn added scrutiny. Given the level of security provided by the Secret Service – snipers on the roof, multiple checkpoints and guard stations, and officers seemingly everywhere on the street and grounds – it just seems baffling.

[photo credit: Alex E. Proimos via photopin cc]