Wanted at the White House: A Fence That Says Halt! (With Curb Appeal)

nytimes.com - WASHINGTON — Just after a Secret Service official shouted “Go!” and started a stopwatch, an agent hurtled toward a 10-foot-high fence with curving rods at the top.

Intended to slow any climber, the rods unexpectedly served as handholds that allowed the agent to hoist himself over the fence, a variation of the cast iron barricade at the White House. The feat took under seven seconds, even less time than it took two intruders to jump the seven-foot fence surrounding the Executive Mansion last year.

Since fall, the Secret Service has conducted dozens of tests on possible modifications to the White House fence, recruiting some of the agency’s best athletes — including tall, short, hefty and thin volunteers — to serve as pretend fence jumpers at a rural training ground outside Washington.