Note to Secret Service: Lock White House door

As anyone who's ever tried knows, the White House is one of the most difficult buildings in the world to get into. Take it from me. I go there almost every day for the daily White House press briefings. You have to go through several layers of security to get onto the grounds, before getting into the building itself.

Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House has been closed to vehicular traffic since May 1995. That may cause a headache for motorists in downtown Washington, but it's a boon for tourists. At any time of day there are hundreds of people from all over the world milling around in front of the White House taking selfies, or taking part in an ever-changing parade of protests. Last Monday alone, I encountered activists protesting the bombing of ISIS targets in Syria, the Keystone Pipeline, Israel's occupation of the West Bank and lack of action on immigration reform. God bless America.

It's a daily, festive scene. But trying to get inside the White House is more difficult than it looks. Several uniformed members of the Secret Service patrol the street and sidewalk in front of the White House and also Lafayette Park across the street. The entire 18-acre campus is surrounded by a 7 foot, 6 inch-high fence, erected under LBJ, with a built-in alarm system to detect and deter jumpers.

To enter the property, you can't just walk up and walk in. You must make an appointment ahead of time and be cleared by the Secret Service. Once you arrive at the proper gate, you show your ID and go through security. Then, unless you work there, you wait for an escort to take you to that specific part of the White House for which you've been cleared – and nowhere else. Inside the gate, black-garbed Secret Service agents with high-powered weapons and attack dogs patrol the grounds, while armed snipers watch down from the White House roof. Armed guards stand just outside, or inside, of every public entrance. And those are just the levels of security you see. Close to the president, of course, there's much more protection.

It's so tight, so well-organized, so disciplined, it's unbelievable that anyone could penetrate that security bubble. But that's exactly what happened at 7:20 p.m., still broad daylight, on Friday, Sept. 19. Forty-two-year-old Iraq war veteran Omar Gonzalez scaled the Pennsylvania Avenue fence, jumped down, raced 70-plus yards across the North Lawn and ran into the unlocked front door of the White House before being tackled in the foyer by a plain-clothes Secret Service officer. Fortunately, President Obama and his daughters had left the White House grounds on Marine One 10 minutes earlier.

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It was an astounding breach of security. As those of us who work there know, would-be fence jumpers, while not unusual, are quickly apprehended. Just two weeks ago, a man with a Pokemon mask cleared the fence, only to be immediately brought down by a gunman and dog. Last Friday, however, every level of protection failed: Officers on the street didn't see Gonzalez scaling the fence. Agents on the ground didn't try, or failed, to catch him while running. Officers with attack dogs didn't release them. Because he was wearing no backpack and appeared to be unarmed, snipers on the roof didn't fire. No officer stood guard at the North Portico. And, perhaps most shockingly, nobody even thought to lock the front door.

Embarrassed Secret Service officials immediately promised an investigation. Unfortunately, in typical law enforcement fashion, they've also suggested expanding the security perimeter around the White House and setting up new security checkpoints a couple of blocks away. That should not be allowed to happen. Doing so would be an unnecessary and outrageous violation of public access.

The opportunity for Americans to gather in front of the White House to express their opinions, or just admire the building, is a great democratic tradition. We should not lose it just because the Secret Service fell down on the job. There's only one reason Omar Gonzalez was able to get into the White House: not because there were too many people on the sidewalk, but because the Secret Service officers on duty were asleep at the switch.

The answer is not more security. The answer is simply for the Secret Service to do its job.

They can start by locking the front door.