美夫婦混入白宮蹭國宴

Crashing a state dinner at the White House apparently takes a security breakdown as well as some kind of nerve.

The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list, agency spokesman Ed Donovan said.

President Barack Obama was never in any danger because the party crashers went through the same security screening for weapons as the 300-plus people actually invited to the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Donovan said.

The Salahis are well-known in the Virginia horse-country set and were being considered for the Bravo reality TV show Real Housewives of DC.

In an interview with the CBS Early Show in September, Michaele Salahi said, "President Obama has made it very accessible for anyone to visit the White House, so that's like a big thing right now."

The Secret Service learned about the security breach on Wednesday after a media inquiry prompted by the Salahis' online boasts about having attended the private event, Donovan said.

One of the many photos from the dinner posted on Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows the couple with a smiling Vice President Joe Biden. In other photos, they appear alone or together with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, CBS News anchor Katie Couric and three Marines in their dress blues.

The Washington Post said uninvited guests who got in could face a potential trespassing charge unless someone from inside the White House staff slipped them in. Donovan would not comment on possible legal violations.

"It's important to note that they went through all the security screenings - the magnetometer screening - just like all the other guests did," Donovan said. And, he added, Obama and others under Secret Service protection had their usual security details with them at the dinner.

擅闖白宮國宴除需要一些勇氣外，顯然還要突破重重安全防線。

據美國特情局發言人艾德•多諾萬介紹，在本週二白宮舉行國宴當晚，來自弗吉尼亞州的米夏埃爾和塔利克·薩拉希夫婦不請自來，併成功混入宴會現場。目前情報局正在調查當晚的安防程序。

據多諾萬介紹，因爲這對不速之客和其他賓客一樣，都接受了武器掃描安檢，所以並沒給奧巴馬總統帶來什麼危險。當天的國宴爲款待印度總理曼莫漢·辛格而舉行，共有300多位賓客受邀出席。

薩拉希夫婦在弗吉尼亞州的馬球界小有名聲，並可能將參演Bravo電視臺的一檔名爲《華盛頓主婦的真實生活》的真人秀節目。

今年9月，米夏埃爾•薩拉希在接受CBS《早間秀》節目的採訪時說：“奧巴馬總統上任後，任何人似乎都有機會參觀白宮，所以現在這成了件大事。”

據多諾萬介紹，薩拉希夫婦參加完宴會後在網上大加炫耀，而本週三媒體則爆出消息質疑國宴安保漏洞，這時美國特勤局才得知情況。

在米夏埃爾•薩拉希上傳至Facebook的衆多照片中，有一張是這對夫婦和副總統喬•拜登的合影，照片上的拜登面帶微笑。在其它照片中，有些是夫妻倆的單獨合影，有些則是兩人與白宮總管拉姆•伊曼紐爾、華盛頓市長阿德利安•芬迪、哥倫比亞廣播公司新聞主播凱蒂•考瑞克和三名身穿藍色制服的海軍高官的合影。

《華盛頓郵報》稱，這對不速之客可能會面臨擅闖白宮的指控，除非白宮內部人員私自放他們進去。多諾萬拒絕就此事可能涉及的違法行爲進行評論。

多諾萬說：“需要指出的是，他們和所有其他賓客一樣，通過了所有的安檢關，包括磁力檢測。”他說，宴會當晚，奧巴馬和其他受特情局保護的高官都有專人保護。

Vocabulary:

breakdown: the act of disrupting an established order so it fails to continue 使系統崩潰的行爲

crasher: someone who gets in (to a party) without an invitation or without paying 不速之客

security detail:A security detail more often known as a PSD, standing for Protective Services Detail, Personal Security Detachment, or Personal Security Detail is a protective team assigned to protect the personal security of an individual or group. PSDs can be made up of military or private security personnel.（安保小隊）