Security

Washington -- Dorothy Bush LeBlond, the president's only daughter, gets married tomorrow.Not invited, huh?But since taxpayers almost certainly will pay part of the tab, you deserve to know all we've dug up on this June bride's oh-so-special day.For starters, it's the best kept secret in town."

Secret Service director Julia A. Pierson did herself no favors this week when she appeared before a House subcommittee to explain why her agency so badly bungled the job of protecting the president. There's no excuse for the repeated lapses in security that put the president's life at risk, nor for the agency's attempts to hide the seriousness of the incidents afterward. Ms. Pierson finally acknowledged that today when she submitted her resignation as head of the agency. In the days leading up to her departure, Ms. Pierson had promised a thorough internal investigation of the matter, but that's not good enough.

Paasing the health care reform legislation isn't just a victory for all American families but is especially important to me as a cancer survivor and to my spouse who is a stroke survivor. We can feel that we now have the security that we don't risk losing the American dream if we get sick or in an accident. I am hopeful that all Americans will begin to see the value of this legislation and will see the perils of life we were facing every day until the passage of this reform. To those who want to repeal the bill, I wish they could have walked just one day in my life or in the life of someone else in similiar circumstances.

The state's Mental Hygiene Administration didn't have adequate procedures to ensure consumers given care were eligible, according to audit by the Department of Legislative Services during fiscal 2013. The state funds in question totaled $16.4 million. The total budget that year was $788 million when federal funds were counted. The audit also found reviews weren't done in a timely manner by an accounting firm hired to monitor some of the agency's fiscal functions, with some reviews taking up to an extra 21 months.

Et tu, Dutch? Count Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger -- senior Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, one of just eight lawmakers briefed on the nation's biggest security secrets -- among those who keep saying "Obama" when they mean "Osama. " He made the slip twice in the space of an hour Friday during an appearance at the Oak Crest Retirement Community in Baltimore County, The Sun's Yeganeh June Torbati reports. "If Obama only knew how much he has affected our country -- he has cost us billions of dollars," Ruppersberger said at one point, referring to the economic impact of the war on terrorism.

Two public opinion polls show Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker with a lead of three and six percentage points heading into Tuesday's election to recall him because of a new law reducing the power of public sector unions. Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, said Sunday that Walker was leading 50 percent to 47 percent over Democratic challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in its final survey. Angus Reid polling had Walker ahead 53 percent to 47 percent. Both findings were within the margin of error so the results could be even tighter.

President Barack Obama reacted a few months ago to a question aboutIran's deliberate efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. His reply and how he was going to prevent it was "all options are on the table. " That's sort of like imagining General George Custer threatening Crazy Horse at the Little Bighorn with, "Surrender! I've got you surrounded!" The only option he failed to include was the upcoming sequestration (read elimination) of $500 billion in defense spending which will begin in earnest next January and will progress into deeper cuts well past 2014.

In an otherwise unexceptional column on immigration reform, commentator Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. just can't restrain himself from reinforcing a totally false canard about Democrats and border security ("Immigration reform in sight," July 7). Mr. Ehrlich claims that "most Republicans have been screaming about increased border security since 9/11," then implies that Democrats are "weak" on border security. In fact, Republican President George W. Bush's administration did little about border security.

In the aftermath of losing two fumbles on kick returns in the Ravens' 22-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 13, David Reed was instructed to work with running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery on addressing his issues with ball security. On Thursday, special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg provided an update of Reed's progress in that department. “The drills have been really productive,” Rosburg said during his weekly media briefing Thursday. “Wilbert is really good at this, and he's been grinding on David.

- The Obama administration pledged Thursday to close gaps in the intelligence system that enabled a man carrying a bomb to board a U.S.-bound plane and to create a better system for analyzing the clues and tips flooding the intelligence community to give analysts a better chance of foiling future plots. The White House based its assertions on the early findings of two separate inquiries into what it calls the "human and systemic failures" that took place before a Nigerian man's attempt to detonate a bomb aboard a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. The White House would not release the conclusions but announced that President Barack Obama will hold meetings next week in Washington aimed at getting the tangle of government agencies responsible for fighting terrorism to more diligently assess and share information.

The NFL sent a memo to every owner and team president today denying a report that it had received a video in April of former Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee inside a casino elevator. The Associated Press report Thursday night said a video of the February incident was sent by an anonymous law enforcement official to NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller. Rice's $35 million contract was terminated by the Ravens when a video of the punch surfaced on TMZ on Sept. 8. The NFL issued the following denial to owners and team presidents in this memo obtained by The Baltimore Sun: "Our office has found absolutely no evidence to support the claim of the anonymous 'law enforcement source' that he sent a video to the NFL office or that he received a telephone call to his 'disposable cell phone' from an unidentified female using an NFL line.

A federal judge ruled this week that owners of multiple Harford County properties - where portions of a 21-mile underground gas pipeline are being installed under an eminent domain claim - cannot fully access funds set aside by the gas company as a form of collateral until a final determination is made at trial on compensation. Columbia Gas Transmission LLC was granted access to the properties in June to begin installing a back-up gas line between Owings Mills and Fallston under condition that it file a cash bond payment of $231,675 to the court, according to court records.

There's simply no excuse for the Secret Service to have allowed an apparently deranged man to vault over the White House fence on Friday then sprint across the lawn and actually enter the president's residence through an unlocked door before he was tackled and apprehended. Heads should roll for a breach of security of this magnitude at what ought to be one of the country's most heavily guarded facilities. But it shouldn't come at the expense of the public's access to a historic site that symbolizes the nation's tradition of open governance and accountability to the citizens it serves.

Carolyn W. Colvin's nomination to lead the Social Security Administration cleared the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, queuing up a final vote for the Maryland native later this year. The committee voted 22-2 to advance her nomination to head the Woodlawn-based agency, where she has served as acting commissioner since early last year. "Colvin has vast management experience and a steely resolve to complete successfully whatever mission she is assigned," Sen. Ben Cardin, a member of the committee, said in a statement.

The officials who are responsible for safeguarding the nation's intelligence secrets are trying to figure out how to better vet millions of employees and contractors with security clearances, after auditors found that some of those workers owed more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in unpaid taxes. About 83,000 employees and contractors at the Department of Defense owed more than $730 million in unpaid taxes, the Government Accountability Office reported last month. Last year, the agency reported that 8,400 executive-branch civilian employees and contractors owed $85 million.

The furor over former Raven Ray Rice thrust the issue of domestic violence into the spotlight, but it also highlighted a part of football that fans likely spend little time thinking about: the league's security apparatus. Staffed largely by former police and federal law enforcement personnel — often high-ranking ones — the security departments maintained by the league and individual teams have a reputation of being able to work their contacts and launch behind-the-scenes investigations at the first sign of trouble.

New Orleans. -- Now I know how President Clinton and Yasser Arafat feel.I gave a talk at the Chicago Art Institute and they gave me security. Heavy security. They treated me, in fact, exactly as if I were a Modigliani on loan.First, a solid guy made out of bulging muscles in a suit two sizes too large walked ahead of me checking the hallways while his boss, an equally beefy killing machine, walked right by me, close enough to scorch my neck with his vigilant breath.After I gained the stage, the guy in the big suit sat at the bottom of the stairs, patting his hidden arsenal now and then, leading me to believe that what I had mistaken for muscles were actually armaments of varying size.

Area military installations increased their security while police searched for additional shooters at the Washington Navy Yard. The Navy, meanwhile, issued an "order to account" for all Naval personnel assigned to commands in the Washington metro area. Commanders ordered personnel at the Washington Navy Yard, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and Fort McNair to shelter in place as military and District of Columbia police converged on the naval installation in Southwest D.C. The commander of Fort Meade said visitors might experience delays as they attempt to enter the Army base in Anne Arundel County.

The Orioles recently joined a growing number of teams to institute additional security procedures to prepare for Major League Baseball's requirements at the beginning of next season. While the added measures currently are in effect at some entrances to Camden Yards, MLB has mandated that all 30 ballparks develop a screening program before Opening Day in April. "The safety of our guests is of the utmost importance to the ballclub. As such, the Orioles are cooperating with Major League Baseball's efforts to implement enhanced security measures at all ballparks," Orioles vice president of communications Greg Bader said in a statement.

The tall ships - old showboats that they are - danced into Baltimore looking regal and festooned, the stateliest of guests at an affair expected to bring President Barack Obama to Baltimore. "It's a ballet, with a couple hard-rock pieces in the middle," said Mike McGeady, president of Sail Baltimore, of the intense maritime choreography used to welcome dozens of Star-Spangled Spectacular ships into the waters around Baltimore on Wednesday without disrupting commercial port trade.