White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina released a memo which assigned blame to the White House for the gatecrashers who breached security at Barack Obama's state dinner. Jim Messina said in the memo: "After reviewing our actions, it is clear that the White House did not do everything we could have done to assist the United States Secret Service in ensuring that only invited guests enter the complex." The Deputy Chief of Staff added: "As the Secret Service said last week, agents failed to verify that these two individuals were invited guests before they entered the White House."

The gatecrashers, Tareq and Michaele Salahi claim to have been invited, something the White House denies. They failed to appear before the House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday. The committee chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson had said previously that the panel was "prepared to move forward with subpoenas" should the Salahis not show. "The Salahis' testimony is important to explain how a couple circumvented layers of security at the White House on the evening of a state dinner without causing alarm. Rep. Thompson also said "the country is fortunate the affair didn't end in a night of horror."

Secret Service director Mark Sullivan said: "This is our fault and our fault alone." Sullivan also said: "Right now, the individuals who have been identified have been put on administrative leave and beyond that I would prefer not to go further, but I will tell you we are going to look at this and find out what the culpability was, and we will take the appropriate action."

eNewsAlerts.com