Gate-crashers at the White House

Tareq and Michaele Salahi deserve the strongest possible condemnation for giving the Secret Service a black eye and playing fast and loose with the security of the president.

The men and women of the Secret Service stand ready and willing to take a bullet for their charge, whether that individual happens to be Republican or Democrat. As a former Foreign Service officer, I've met some of these men and women, and they represent the best we have. The service is going to come down hard on itself over this, and one or more brave people will probably lose their jobs as a result of a frivolous society caper pulled off by a couple of cheap, tacky, nouveau riche social climbers.

The next fashionable invitation that "fun-loving" and "debonair" Tareq and Michaele should get is for a couple of years in the nearest federal penitentiary, and the next smiling "looky, looky at us" high society photo I'd like to see of them would be posing in bright orange prison jumpsuits with the warden.

John K. Atchley, Rockville

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The Salahis didn't crash the White House party to show weakness in the Secret Service's protection of the president, his family and their guests at the White House. They wanted to get on a TV show. They got the fame they wanted, but they may have broken federal law, and the question is, will they be prosecuted? If not, it might encourage future attempts to gate-crash the White House.

All that aside, I thank the Salahis for showing the lack of protection of the president by members of the Secret Service, even if that wasn't their intent.

Gary Myers, Oceanside, Calif.