Secret Service Breach: Armed Contractor With Criminal Record Allowed In Elevator With Obama

The U.S. Secret Service is being criticized for another security breach after it was reported that President Barack Obama was allowed in an elevator with an armed contractor with a criminal history during his visit to Atlanta, Georgia earlier in September.

Those close to the incident, who are speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that during President Obama's visit to Atlanta, Georgia on Sept. 16, a security contractor who was carrying a gun and had previous convictions in assault and battery was allowed to ride the elevator with the president in the hotel where he was staying. Obama had been in town to speak at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters.

The Secret Service decided to question the unnamed security contractor after the man reportedly refused to stop recording president Obama on his cell phone while he was in the elevator. When the man was taken out of the elevator and questioned, a background check confirmed that the man had had previous charges of battery and assault. Secret Service also found a gun on the man, a detail which the agents were not aware of when the man had been in the elevator with Obama.

News of the recent security breach has angered critics, who said the Secret Service should have performed a background check on the security contractor before he was able to enter the elevator with Obama.

According to The Washington Post, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has also condemned the recent security breach, saying the president could have been shot by the man. "You have a convicted felon within arms reach of the president and they never did a background check," Chaffetz said. "Words aren't strong enough for the outrage I feel for the safety of the President and his family. "

 "His life was in danger. This country would be a different world today if he had pulled out his gun," the lawmaker added.

The Secret Service has been receiving added scrutiny after an incident earlier this month, when a retired war veteran successfully scaled a White House fence and entered the building's north doors, running all the way to the east room before he was apprehended by a Secret Service agent.