奇速英语

一架无人机在美国白宫坠毁

The owner of a small drone that crashed onto the White House grounds early on Monday was a federal government employee, who said he broke the secure perimeter by accident. The pre-dawn incident caused a major emergency response and raised fresh questions about security at the building.

A U.S. official said that the man contacted the Secret Service after reports of the crash spread across the media, and he told the agency he had been flying the drone for fun.

In a statement released Monday, Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said: “The individual has been interviewed by Secret Service agents and been fully cooperative. There is evidence that this incident occurred as a result of flying the device for fun. Further investigation is going on.”

Republican Rep. John Mica said the Secret Service wasn’t taking the necessary steps to address the new security concern that drones presented. “You could put light explosives on a drone and they could do an incredible amount of damage not only to the White House but to the Capitol and other government facilities.”

The drone was too small to be detected by the White House’s radar system, the New York Times reported. It is designed to detect flying objects such as planes, missiles and large drones.

The White House was put on lockdown for more than two hours on Monday morning after the crash, even though President Obama and his wife were not home at the time.

A U.S. Secret Service officer on duty saw and heard the two-foot-wide commercial drone fly at a low altitude into the heavily guarded complex and crash on the southeast side at 3.08am, the agency said.

“An investigation is underway to determine the origin of this commercially available device, motive, and to identify suspects,” a Secret Service spokeswoman said in an earlier statement.

Josh Earnest, the White House Press Secretary, said it did not appear to bring an ongoing threat to anyone in the building. He confirmed the discovery during a briefing on the president’s trip to India and said both of the president’s daughters had been at home during the time of the incident.