Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the socialite couple who gate-crashed President Obama’s first state dinner Tuesday night, seem to have exposed alarming flaws in White House security. The couple were not on the guest list, but somehow made it through a Secret Service checkpoint and were allowed to enter the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Luckily, in this instance the gate-crashers were motivated only by fame, promoting themselves for a gig on Bravo’s new reality show, “Real Housewives of D.C..” Michaele previously posted photos on Facebook taken at the dinner, posing with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, CBS anchor Katie Couric, Vice President Biden and three Marines in dress blue uniforms. But the smoking gun i.e. picture everyone has been wondering about, has been revealed by the White House themselves, which shows President Obama meeting and greeting the Salahi’s.The revelation underscored the seriousness of the security breach and prompted a quick apology from the Secret Service. With threats against President Obama soaring nearly 400 percent, since he took office, the effectiveness of the current Secret Service protection is being called into question. Director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, saying that his agency was “deeply concerned and embarrassed” by the events.
