Representative Stephen Lynch (D., Mass.) could scarcely contain his scorn for Secret Service director Julia Pierson’s evasive testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, saying “I wish to God you protected the White House like you’re protecting your reputation here today.” 
 
 The Massachusetts lawmaker upbraided Pierson for her agency’s inability to stop one man, armed only with a knife, from jumping a fence and penetrating deep into the White House earlier this month. And he found her repeated justifications for the breach inexcusable. 
 
 “I’ve listened to your testimony very deliberately here this morning,” he said, “and I wish to God you protected the White House like you’re protecting your reputation here today. I wish you spent that time and that effort to protect the American president, and his family, like I’m hearing people covering for the lapses of the Secret Service on these several occasions. I really do.” 
 
 After Lynch’s time expired, Pierson tried to explain that “the United States Secret Service does not take any of these incidents lightly. They are all –” 
 
 “With all due respect, that’s my point,” Lynch interrupted angrily. “I don’t think the Secret Service is taking their duty to protect the American president and his family at the White House very seriously. That’s exactly my point.” 
 
 “I have very low confidence in the Secret Service under your leadership,” he added. “I have to say that.” ||||| The head of the U.S. Secret Service did little to assuage concerns from lawmakers during a tense and testy congressional hearing Tuesday that the agency is not up to the task of protecting the White House. 
 
 Secret Service Director Julia Pierson said the agency is reviewing its security protocols after a Sept. 19 incident where an armed intruder jumped the White House fence and vowed that such a security lapse would “never happen again.” 
 
 Text Size - 
 
 + 
 
 reset 
 
 “It’s clear that our security plan was not properly executed,” Pierson said during a four-hour House Oversight Committee hearing. “This is unacceptable, and I take full responsibility.” 
 
 Even after a classified briefing that offered more in-depth information, members said they had little confidence in the agency’s leadership but stopped just short of asking for Pierson’s resignation. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Rick Perry: Don’t try to enter my house) 
 
 “I’m not saying that yet, but I can say that the agency overall has a leadership problem,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). “We’re getting to the point that the president is going to have to make some dramatic changes.” 
 
 White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday that the White House continues to have confidence in the Secret Service. 
 
 Lawmakers have been intensely critical of the agency since Omar Gonzalez breached the White House compound and entered the Green Room before being apprehended by officers last month. He was arrested and on Tuesday was indicted on three charges, including unlawfully entering a restricted building. There was strong, bipartisan criticism of the agency from committee leaders even before Pierson spoke — and the tone never got better. 
 
 “Common sense tells us this was a significant security failure — not an instance of praiseworthy restraint,” said Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). “This failure has once again tested the trust of the American people in the Secret Service — a trust already strained by a string of recent scandals.” 
 
 Rep. Elijah Cummings — the top Democrat on the panel — echoed those sentiments, saying several incidents, including a 2011 incident recently revealed by The Washington Post in which it took days for the Secret Service to realize that eight shots had been fired at the White House, tested the “credibility” of the agency. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Darrell Issa hits Secret Service protection) 
 
 “This recent incident unfortunately causes many people to ask whether there is a much broader problem with the Secret Service,” the Maryland Democrat said. 
 
 Neither Cummings nor Issa asked for Pierson to resign her post but said they planned to call for an independent investigation into the break-in. Cummings said the “jury is still out” on whether Pierson should remain as head of the embattled agency. 
 
 “The director did not get a clean bill of health at the end of this hearing,” Issa said. “It is up to the president and the secretary to determine if she is the person to respond. Right now, I was not satisfied with this hearing.” 
 
 Separately, Rep. Mike McCaul, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, announced plans to create a blue-ribbon commission to review the Secret Service. He said he is “deeply concerned with the lack of transparency” from the agency. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Intruder made it deep into White House) 
 
 During the hearing, committee members focused on what they described as a breakdown in security after agents failed to release security dogs to stop Gonzalez and a system of alarms failed to alert officers inside that an intruder was on the grounds. 
 
 The Washington Post reported on Monday that initial reports from the Secret Service that Gonzalez only made it through the front doors were incorrect and that he had, in fact, had access to much of the White House’s main floor. Pierson also said that Secret Service agents had previously stopped and questioned Gonzalez, who in one case was carrying a hatchet, near the White House in the weeks before Sept. 19 but ultimately released him as he had not committed a crime. 
 
 Pierson also said that officers recognized Gonzalez on Sept. 19 before he jumped the fence but did not detain him. 
 
 “We all are outraged within the Secret Service about how this incident came to pass,” Pierson said. “It is self-evident that mistakes were made.”
– Today's Walk of Shame is brought to you by Julia Pierson, director of the bumbling Secret Service currently being grilled by frothing members of the House Oversight Committee on the not-inconsequential matter of how a heavily-armed Omar Gonzalez was able to get deep inside the White House. Calling the lapse "unacceptable," Pierson fell on her sword, adding that "I take full responsibility" and vowing that it "would not happen again." Pierson also noted a seemingly obvious security upgrade that's more surprising for not being in place earlier: The front doors of the White House now lock automatically, reports the AP. If Pierson was the piñata, members on both sides of the aisle were eager to take a swing, notes Politico. Highlights/lowlights, also via the National Review: Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.: "I wish to God you protected the White House like you’re protecting your reputation here today. I wish you spent that time and that effort to protect the American president, and his family, like I’m hearing people covering for the lapses of the Secret Service on these several occasions. I really do." Then: "I have very low confidence in the Secret Service under your leadership." Darrell Issa, R-Calif.: "Common sense tells us this was a significant security failure—not an instance of praiseworthy restraint. This failure has once again tested the trust of the American people in the Secret Service—a trust already strained by a string of recent scandals." Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah: "If you project weakness, you invite attacks. Don’t let somebody get close to the president … don’t let them get close to the White House, ever. If they have to take action that’s lethal, I will have their back."