10 Biggest Security Failures in American History
How did they miss these? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most shocking moments in American history that left the world questioning just how secure the country is.
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00:00Five of our eight battleships to lose one is a national catastrophe.
00:04What happened at Pearl Harbor is somewhere in the mega disaster category.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most shocking moments in American history
00:13that left the world questioning just how secure the country is.
00:18It is clear in this document that Bush does say, I had the responsibility, but he clearly
00:24sees that as something different than having the blame.
00:28Jonathan James NASA hack.
00:30As the 20th century neared its conclusion, cybercrimes went from science fiction to a
00:36reality with consequences beyond the digital realm.
00:39The most prominent wake-up call arguably came in 1999 when NASA and the Department of Defense
00:46got hacked.
00:47More than 3,300 emails were intercepted with usernames and passwords stolen.
00:53Who breached this seemingly impenetrable security system?
00:57Jonathan James, aka Comrade, the 15-year-old son of a computer programmer.
01:02NASA shut down its computers for 21 days while James was apprehended in early 2000.
01:09Pleading guilty to accessing 13 computers, James received seven months under house arrest
01:15and probation.
01:16James didn't cause irrevocable harm, but if a Florida teenager could breach government
01:21systems, there was little stopping others as cyberterrorism became an urgent threat.
01:27The Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan.
01:30Ronald Reagan was only a couple of months into his first term as president when John
01:35Hinckley Jr., fueled by his obsession with Jodie Foster, opened fire outside the Washington
01:41Hilton.
01:42This is Fieldman's NBC video played at Hinckley's trial.
01:46You can see Reagan emerging from the hotel at the far right of the screen.
01:51Everything is so fast, it's almost like a blur.
01:54Reagan was left in critical condition, but survived following emergency surgery.
01:59Officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and White House Press Secretary
02:05James Brady were also wounded, the latter succumbing to his injuries over 30 years later.
02:11For the Reagan family, for the Brady family, for the families of the other two victims,
02:17for Jodie Foster, I apologize for what I've done, for what I did 41 years ago.
02:23Jerry Parr, the special agent who pushed Reagan into his limousine, was praised for saving
02:29the president's life, as was McCarthy for taking a bullet for him.
02:33However, the fact that Hinckley came so close to assassinating Reagan revealed how easily
02:38civilians could approach a president without being meticulously scanned, changing security
02:44protocols moving forward.
02:46With each death, each near miss, protection has gotten better.
02:51Yet for the Secret Service, for any president, it remains a risk which comes with the oath
02:57of office.
02:58National Security Agency breach.
03:01Sometimes U.S. security is so focused on outside threats that they overlook what's right under
03:06their noses.
03:07The NSA specifically targets the communications of everyone.
03:11It ingests them by default.
03:13It collects them in its system and it filters them and it analyzes them and it measures
03:17them and it stores them for periods of time.
03:20In 2013, NSA contractor Edward Snowden released classified documents that exposed the government's
03:27worldwide surveillance programs.
03:30Criminal charges were brought against Snowden, who had already fled the country, receiving
03:35asylum in Russia.
03:36There are, you know, no country is perfect and Russia has some political policies that
03:40I disagree very strongly with.
03:42They monitor the internet in ways I consider inappropriate.
03:46But my day-to-day life, you know, it's much better than prison.
03:50To some, Snowden is a traitor to his nation.
03:53To others, he's a hero who exposed the reach of Big Brother.
03:57Whatever your opinion of Snowden is, most would agree that this massive intelligence
04:01leak did little to encourage faith in the NSA.
04:04Ironically, the NSA attempted to put the world under a magnifying glass.
04:09The US will come after us if they can.
04:13And the only thing that we have to deter this is good intelligence.
04:19To understand that a plot is being hatched and to get there before they get to us.
04:25Now all eyes were on the NSA, leading to some of their programs, like mass phone surveillance,
04:31being ruled illegal.
04:33The attempted assassinations of Gerald Ford.
04:36In September 1975, President Gerald Ford was nearly assassinated not once, but twice.
04:43Visiting Sacramento, Ford came within hand-shaking distance of Manson family member Lynette Squeaky
04:49Fromm, who planned to shoot the president with an M1911 pistol.
04:5426-year-old Lynette Squeaky Fromm pointed a Colt .45 caliber pistol at then-president
05:00Gerald Ford.
05:01Fromm might have succeeded if the gun hadn't been improperly loaded.
05:05Allowing the Secret Service to apprehend her.
05:08Only 17 days later in San Francisco, another woman targeted the president.
05:13From a crowd 40 feet away, Sarah Jane Moore fired at Ford.
05:18Moore fired a single shot at President Ford, September 22nd, 1975, outside a hotel in San
05:23Francisco.
05:24After missing once, Moore took another shot when a Vietnam War veteran Oliver Sipple grabbed
05:29her arm.
05:30Sipple's intervention caused the bullet to miss Ford, instead hitting taxi driver
05:35John Ludwig, who sustained minor injuries.
05:39Following back-to-back security failures, Ford began wearing a bulletproof trench coat
05:44in public.
05:45Following both attempts, a bulletproof trench coat was given to President Ford the following
05:49month in October of 1975.
05:52Las Vegas mass shooting.
05:55The surge of mass shootings in the U.S. has sparked many conversations about gun control.
06:00The 2017 Las Vegas shooting was no exception.
06:03Occurring during the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, it remains America's deadliest
06:08shooting carried out by a single person, Stephen Craig Paddock.
06:13Beyond gun violence, this tragedy got people talking about security or lack thereof.
06:19Hundreds of victims pursued legal action against MGM Resorts International, citing insufficient
06:25surveillance, improperly trained staff, and slow response.
06:30The shooter may have taken his motive to the grave, but MGM says the massacre was still
06:34clearly an act of terrorism that the company argues they're not legally responsible for.
06:40Paddock, a high-stakes gambler, also had VIP privileges that allegedly enabled him to execute
06:46this attack.
06:48Attorney C. Chad Pinkerton, who represented multiple victims and their families, called
06:53the shooting, quote, the largest venue security failure in U.S. history.
06:58The final toll, staggering, 58 dead, over 850 injured.
07:06The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
07:09In 2020, an $800 million settlement was reached.
07:14The attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
07:17At a 2016 rally, Michael Stephen Sanford attempted to pull a gun out of an officer's holster
07:23targeting Donald Trump.
07:26Thank you, officers.
07:28Michael Sanford being led out of this Trump rally moments after trying to grab a Las Vegas
07:32police officer's gun.
07:34Sanford was apprehended, but the future president came closer to assassination eight years later.
07:40At another rally in Pennsylvania, Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots from a neighboring
07:45building, which the Secret Service had flagged as a possible vulnerability.
07:50Before a Secret Service sniper took him down, Crooks killed bystander Corey Compertor, critically
07:56injured two others, and hit Trump's upper right ear.
08:01Weeks earlier, the Secret Service gained intel on an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
08:06In the weeks leading up to Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, we're now learning
08:09there was already increased security around the former president.
08:13After U.S. officials obtained intelligence that there may be an Iranian plot to assassinate
08:19him.
08:20Although this was unrelated to Crooks, the additional security measures taken had little
08:24impact.
08:25Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheadle admitted that the incident was, quote, the most significant
08:31operational failure at the Secret Service in decades and resigned.
08:36The director of the Secret Service has resigned.
08:39There's a resignation coming just one day after Kimberly Cheadle was grilled by members
08:43of Congress on both sides of the aisle during a testy hearing with the House Oversight Committee
08:49yesterday.
08:50January 6th Capitol attack.
08:53Months after Joe Biden was elected America's 46th president, thousands stormed the U.S.
08:59Capitol building hoping to overturn the results.
09:01To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.
09:09This act of domestic terrorism didn't succeed, but it left several dead and numerous people
09:14injured with millions in damages.
09:17Some blamed Donald Trump, who spoke at the Save America rally shortly before the attack.
09:22And after this, we're going to walk down and I'll be there with you.
09:26We're going to walk down, we're going to walk down, anyone you want, but I think right
09:33here we're going to walk down to the Capitol.
09:36In any case, January 6th spoke volumes about national security.
09:41While the attack came as a surprise to some, the FBI and Homeland Security were accused
09:47of not taking online threats seriously.
09:49The National Park Service was criticized for not properly reviewing the Save America rally.
09:55Federal police was also ill-equipped to handle such an attack, although initial steps have
10:00been taken to prevent another incident.
10:03People were saying, well, this just can't happen.
10:05And these groups of folks, they can't do that.
10:07Well, now we know they can't.
10:09The assassination of John F. Kennedy.
10:12Before November 22nd, 1963, three U.S. presidents had been assassinated in office.
10:18Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley.
10:22When his turn came to shake hands with McKinley, he instead drew a gun hidden beneath his handkerchief
10:27and shot the president twice, point blank in the stomach.
10:33His name was Leon Shulgash.
10:35After McKinley died in 1901, the Secret Service became a presidential mandate.
10:40The idea of a sitting president being assassinated seemed like a thing of the past until John
10:45F. Kennedy's limousine passed the Texas School Book Depository.
10:49On November 22nd, 1963, President Kennedy and the First Lady arriving in Dallas on that
10:55day that would change America.
10:57That tragic trip through Dealey Plaza.
11:00The first couple riding through that windy road in Dallas in a Lincoln Continental.
11:05Shooter Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy in addition to wounding Texas Governor John Connelly
11:10and a bystander, James Taig.
11:14Investigations suggested that nearly a half-dozen secret security agents had been out drinking
11:19the night before.
11:20Some argued Kennedy was reckless, wanting to drive in an open-top vehicle with security
11:25keeping a distance.
11:27Between his arrival at Love Field and his speech, he's to lead a motorcade through
11:32the center of downtown Dallas.
11:34The motorcade has over 12 cars.
11:37Kennedy is riding in a three-road Lincoln Continental convertible limousine with the
11:40top down.
11:41Even so, JFK's assassination, along with his brother's five years later, reshaped
11:47the Secret Service.
11:49Attack on Pearl Harbor.
11:51By December 7th, 1941, World War II had been underway for two years with America sitting
11:57on the sidelines.
11:58On Sunday, December 7th, 1941, shortly before 8 a.m., Japan launched a surprise attack on
12:04the United States of America by bombing the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
12:10The U.S. officially joined the war after the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor's
12:16claiming more than 2,000 American lives.
12:19Although often described as a surprise attack, there were several warning signs.
12:24In January 1941, Ambassador Joseph Grew informed the U.S. State Department of a rumor that
12:31Japan planned to bomb Pearl Harbor.
12:34While the attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, tensions between the U.S. and Japan had deteriorated
12:39over the decade, in particular with regards to Japan's expansion into China.
12:44Even as tensions between the U.S. and Japan became more evident, Grew's prediction of
12:48an attack went ignored.
12:50A lack of coordination between the U.S. Navy and Army also left Pearl Harbor vulnerable.
12:56For 60 years, it would stand alone as the most infamous day in American history.
13:02This kind of attack had never been launched before, by which I mean this kind of attack,
13:06an attack by carrier-based aircraft.
13:10And Pearl Harbor was a target-rich environment.
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13:29September 11th Attacks
13:31Eight years after the World Trade Center bombing, another terrorist attack raised security concerns
13:37to unprecedented levels.
13:39It was surely an accident, we thought, but no, it was the first direct act of war against
13:50the United States in over 50 years.
13:53Along with the Twin Towers, plane hijackers targeted the Pentagon and a third location.
13:59The latter aircraft didn't reach its destination thanks to the brave passengers.
14:04But September 11th was nonetheless defined by tragedy.
14:07The Bush administration would be accused of ignoring intelligence pointing to a possible
14:12attack.
14:13They could see dots of information all over the place ahead of time, but even the best
14:17intelligence officers in the world couldn't connect them into a constellation that warned
14:22of this specific event in a way that they might be able to prevent it.
14:25Whether or not 9-11 could have been prevented, this failure of security isn't restricted
14:30to one politician or organization.
14:33Limited resources and communication are just some of the variables that led to the unthinkable.
14:39Over the next decades, U.S. security underwent a significant overhaul.
14:43For all the improvements, security remains a pressing issue with some threats hitting
14:48closer to home.
14:50We were not collaborating.
14:51Fortunately, we are now collaborating much more extensively.
14:54That's probably the number one lesson learned that entities have to work closely together,
15:00local, state, federal.
15:02Which moment in U.S. history left you feeling insecure?
15:06Let us know in the comments.
15:08And at one point, Mrs. Connolly in the car says, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you,
15:12can you?
15:13And President Kennedy replies, no, you certainly can't.
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