Last week a man named Omar Gonzalez jumped the fence surrounding the White House and made a dash toward it. He managed to reach the North Portico entrance, push aside a Secret Service agent, run into the East Room, and then head toward the Green Room before being tackled. This incident has directed scrutiny toward the Secret Service and several mistakes it's made in recent years: a person shot at the White House and no one realized it for four days, an armed person entered an elevator with the president. Today the director was grilled on Capitol Hill very harshly.

But there's actually something I really appreciate, even though it was probably what the Secret Service considers an error: Gonzalez wasn't shot and killed. Many people are questioning that considering there should be snipers on the roof and each agent should have a gun, but no shots were fired. Considering he could've had bombs strapped on him, it probably would've been understandable if he was gunned down, but I'm still breathing a sigh of relief that for once an incident like this didn't have a fatality. Of course there are major lapses in security here — the alarm on the fence didn't go off, the dogs weren't unleashed because they could've attacked the Secret Service agent (what's the point of them then?), and somehow he took down the agent by the door — and they need to be addressed, but I'm glad for once security isn't so trigger happy, especially with the climate nowadays.