10 Insane Security Features Of The White House

[Music] the world's most powerful politician nation is the USA and the White House is the epicenter of the US government so as you'd expect it's protected at all costs after World War two White House security went up a notch and as more threats arose over the decade since the security has only been expanded the president and his delegates are put on a pedestal protected at all costs from any conceivable outside threat a multi-story doomsday bunker is prepped for immediate action guard dogs roam the grounds and aren't afraid to bite and a hidden missile system is ready to take down any threat but that's just the tip of the iceberg there's a good reason why the White House is featured on the United States $20 bill it's an icon of the nation and the epicenter of the country's government operation it's also one of the largest and most complex residential buildings in the country acting as both the home for the first family and the around-the-clock operations center for the president with that in mind it boasts more security features than you'd ever imagined if your house was valued at just under 400 million dollars you'd protect it too built in 1792 under the supervision of George Washington the 55,000 square foot White House spans 19 acres of land and comes jam-packed with 132 multi-purpose rooms and 35 bathrooms spread across six levels scattered throughout the building are 412 doors 147 windows 28 fireplaces 8 staircases and 3 elevators each in the eyes of the presidential security a location for a potential threat the need for security speaks for itself the White House is home to the nation's leader the president needs to be able to make critical decisions in a safe environment no matter what other war destruction or pandemic is happening throughout the country put yourself in the shoes of an imaginary attacker if you were looking in from the outside which White House feature would give you visual access to plan your next move that's right the windows and remember the building has 147 of them the president's personal office as you've undoubtedly seen in countless photos has a mostly window lined back wall allowing for plenty of natural light but of course it also allows for others to peer in that's why the White House windows are backed up with a second layer of ballistic glass behind the traditional windows jim richards vice president of total security solutions has guessed that the ballistic glass is probably a level eight glass clad polycarbonate although since none of us have access to the presidential security files we'll never know for sure what we do know however is that ballistic glass doesn't come cheap just one square foot of the protective layer goes up for $100 the windows were actually put to the test on the evening of Friday November 11th 2011 a man from Idaho Oscar Ortega Hernandez allegedly fired two shots from a high-powered rifle toward the south face of the White House from a car more than 2,100 feet away while one shot went rogue and landed in the grass the other struck a historic window the layer of ballistic glass stopped the bullet as per its job another incident occurred a few years later in January of 2015 although this time no damage was done and it was purely accidental after finishing off a shift one government employee was experimenting with his drone on the expansive White House lawn the drone managed to fly through the airspace undetected by many security systems however when he landed the drone on the grass countless alarms were triggered the White House security went into a frenzy but of course it was a false alarm this experience showcased an alarming gap in the White House security protocol they could not guarantee spotting midair drones henceforth they installed drones of their own with two specific purposes one to act as roving security cameras and two to take down any other threatening drones that might come into the White House's airspace consumer drone companies are doing their part to with a software feature known as geofencing if a drone flies into a strict no-go zone its built-in GPS will sense the boundary and the drone will stop mid-flight the reason that landing drone triggered the alarm was because it tripped one of the many infrared sensors that cover the White House lawns White House sensors aren't arranged in laser-like patterns that are set off by movement they're far more thorough and foolproof than what you typically see in a spy or a heist movie what happens if those alarms are triggered be it the SWAT team on the roof the guard dogs around the grounds or the Secret Service at the entrance before you know it someone will have taken down the intruder and neutralized the threat in no time it doesn't take long for a sensor to be tripped the moment someone decides to jump the fence the so called perimeter of protection jumps into action alerting the White House's security office of a potential danger although jumping the fence would be mighty difficult these days without a pogo stick but we'll get to that a little later now about those cunning Secret Service agents we mentioned there are close to 1,200 Secret Service agents posted around the clock 24 hours a day seven days a week throughout not just the White House but the embassies and diplomatic missions in Washington DC however those are only the uniformed officers The Secret Service has 2,800 more agents which operate in plain clothes throughout the area the Secret Service's expert tactics in both threat prevention and threat response are as important as any job in existence those particular agents who patrol the White House grounds are split into emergency response teams and are often hidden from the public eye ready to pounce at any needed moment if an alarm is triggered rather than wait for intruders to reach their zone they spring into action and rush to the designated area that's been breached armed with semi-automatic weapons they can take down a violent intruder almost immediately we've actually got an entire video dedicated to the Secret Service and their insane tactics did you know that they even have to escort the president to the bathroom and that there's a reason why they wear such dark sunglasses check out that video afterward the link is in the description on the 17th of February 1974 US Army private Robert Kay Preston stole a Huey helicopter from Tipton Field in Maryland and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House 20 years later in 1994 a light plane circled the Washington Monument and crashed on the White House grounds both of these were major breaches of security leading to Washington DC being declared as a no-fly zone if a plane isn't following the strict landing path into Ronald Reagan National Airport then the pilot is given a stern warning failure to reroute following these instructions can be fatal why because countless surface-to-air missiles are located around the Capitol ready to pinpoint any potential aerial threat and take it down before it can get anywhere close to the White House or the president rumor has it that one of those missile launch pads is hidden way under the White House's famous dome however it's unproven and hopefully we'll never need to know for sure while the missile launchers hidden secrets service teams and infrared sensors might not be visible to the naked eye one security feature is about as obvious as it gets that's right the fence since it was first constructed in 1801 when President Thomas Jefferson was calling the shots the White House fence has gone through a subtle yet important transformation in the early days it merely served as a barricade to keep the president's livestock on the property if an intruder wanted to jump over it he'd barely break a sweat these days it's another story not only is the fence topped with sharp spikes to deter would-be climbers but it also boasts an inbuilt pressure feature that alerts White House agents the moment anyone touches it with any substantial force far stronger than it looks the 11 foot tall mesh of steel and rebar is solid enough to bring charging vehicles to a halt even if you could somehow manage to elude the guards and hop the fence as we've seen there's a slew of additional security challenges that would be even harder to overcome one of those security challenges are the Belgian Malinois dogs which patrol the grounds canines have been employed since 1975 to protect the Oval Office as cute as they appear make no mistake they can be vicious the Belgian Malinois z-- is the perfect mix of gentle and brutal they're great with kids but take no prisoners when going after intruders they take off like speeding bullets to subdue suspects reaching speeds of 30 miles an hour and have a wide 270 degree field of vision that's why many of these dogs are used in the military believe it or not one of them was even part of the team that took down Osama bin Laden in 2014 the dogs training was put to the test two loyal canines hurricane and Jordan responded to an intruder and took down fence jumper Dominic Adesanya what does it take to become a Secret Service Dog on average Secret Service dogs typically cost 6500 to $8,500 and they must complete 20 weeks of training with handlers before they can report for duty and usually work in the field until about age 10 before settling down for a well-earned retirement it might come as a surprise to learn that despite all these wild security measures the general public is still welcome to tour the White House tours are offered in 11 different languages however not just any Joe Schmo can walk through the front doors for anyone wanting to explore the grounds an application must be submitted at least 21 days for the scheduled visit this allows the security team to perform background checks on all visitors as well as collect accurate head counts of course the tours don't explore the entire property and they stay far away from the VIPs historic kings and queens employed dedicated food tasters to ensure that their meals were free from poison and it's no different in the White House with presidential food tasters allegedly going as far back as Ronald Reagan the Secret Service takes the necessary precaution that every meal which they haven't seen prepared in front of their very own eyes could be a potential threat it only takes one arsenic doused sandwich to send the US government into a tailspin as strict as all the food supervision czar the president whoever it is at the time can still go ahead and order whichever late-night craving they want for delivery of course though there's an asterisk to that the staff orders say a pizza to a different address because if the delivery man or food prepper doesn't know who the meal is for there's no reason to taint it if catastrophe is imminent then the White House is prepared beneath the picturesque North Lawn an alleged doomsday bunker lies in waiting ready for use at any time according to The Washington Post reporter and Secret Service author Ronald Kessler the facility is large enough to fit the White House work force indefinitely spanning at least five underground stories this is rumored to have been constructed secretly in 2010 when a 376 million dollar project was underway to improve White House electrical wiring and air conditioning keep in mind however that the White House already has the presidential Emergency Operations Center bunker found under the East Wing this is where former Vice President Dick Cheney and other senior officials took refuge during 9/11 the recently constructed North Lawn facility is said to be much much larger do you see any gaps in the White House security protocol share your thoughts don't forget to like this video subscribe to the channel and as always thank you for checking out the richest see you next time and have a great day [Music]

Channel: TheRichest

Views: 433,037

Rating: 4.885572 out of 5

Keywords: president, white house, secret service, security, protection, bunker, oval office, bulletproof, drones, guard dogs, attack dogs, no fly zone, washington, the richest

Id: JMUyUUN3tAQ

Length: 10min 46sec (646 seconds)

Published: Fri May 22 2020