There were several disappointments at Thursday’s Crasher-gate hearing, but chief among them were Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan‘s continued insistence that the now-famous security breach posed no threat to the President, and the committee’s focus on Social Secretary Desiree Rogers‘ role in said breach.

Taken together with the media’s initial narrative on the Social Secretary’s Office, the right’s targeting of her, and a heated broadside from the White House press corps, it seems some are taking the Secret Service’s failure as an opportunity to settle scores with Desiree Rogers.

Initially, I shared the House Committee on Homeland Security’s consternation at Rogers’ absence from the hearing, but after further consideration, I’m not so sure. The committee members’ interest in Rogers seemed to involve spreading some of the blame for the Secret Service’s failure to turn away Michaele and Tareq Salahi, as they repeatedly questioned Sullivan as to whether the presence of a Social Office staffer would have prevented the breach. This is absurd on two counts.

First of all, this is the year 2009. You no longer have to actually be standing next to someone in order to communicate with them. The officers at that first checkpoint had an entire world of confirmation at their fingertips. The committee focused on the fact that there usually is a staffer present for state dinners, but they seemed ignorant of the fact that 99.99% of White House visitors are checked in by the Secret Service alone.

More absurd is the notion that the Secret Service needs backup from the White House social staff. If that’s true, Sullivan should just hang it up. This would be akin to Batman blaming a defeat on the absence of Alfred, the butler.

Since Rogers’ name first came up, however, there seems to have been a cauldron of resentment simmering just below the surface. A disgruntled former staffer came forward to complain about Rogers, and the right jumped at the chance to show how Rogers was yet another example of how Barack Obama is everything that’s wrong with the world.

>>>NEXT: A transcript of Ryan’s chat with Gibbs and a final defense of Desiree Rogers…

Also new is the fact that, as Sullivan says, “the officers are all on administrative leave, with pay” pending completion of the investigation. As far as I know, this is the first time the agency has said that there was more than one officer involved in the breach.

As we went to recess, I tried to question Sullivan about how many officers were involved, and if they had consulted anyone at all before allowing the Salahis onto the White house grounds, but one  of his aides body-checked me into the banister as Sullivan strode down the stairs.

Thus far, committee members from both parties have condemned the White House for not making social secretary Desiree Rogers available to the committee.

The way the White House and the Secret Service have been talking about this incident so far has left open the possibility that a less serious breach may have occurred. I contacted the White House to see if they could eliminate those possibilities.

As I said yesterday, the emails between the Salahis and Michelle Jones left open the possibility that the couple were not invited to the dinner, but may have been cleared for the arrival ceremony. A White House official told me that “the Salahi’s were not cleared to enter the White House grounds for any reason…Not being waved in means not being waved in for anything at all, or as (we’ve said), not cleared to enter the White House grounds for any reason.”

The emails also state that their names, ss#, etc, were submitted in case tickets became available. If there had been a background check done just in case they got in, and a computer record remained when the Secret Service looked them up at the checkpoint, it would mitigate the breach somewhat. Of the submission of the Salahis’ request, the White House official told me the following:

“No (there was no background check). No. On Friday November 20, Michele Jones’s office sent a request to the White House office of Public Engagement for two arrival ceremony tickets for the Salahis. That request was denied by the White House Office of Public Engagement later that same day.”

White House staff, including Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, have evinced frustration that their statements on this story have been questioned and dissected so, but they should understand that, knowing how vigilant Secret Service is, and knowing how vigilant the White House press office staff are, it’s not at all obvious that the Salahis should have been able to BS their way past a guy whose sole job it is to make sure they belong there, and then shake hands with the President and Vice President without any of the White House staff noticing they weren’t supposed to be there.

The White House also raises questions by not making WH Social Secretary Desiree Rogers available to testify at the hearing. Without her or the Salahis at today’s hearing, all that’s left is the Secret Service, who were eager to take the blame from day one, even before an investigation had begun.

Given the very best possible interpretation, the emails show that Michelle Jones was working to get the Salahis tickets to the arrival ceremony prior to the dinner, but explicitly tells them that the dinner has been full up for months. The emails leave open the possibility, however unlikely, that the Salahis might attend the arrival if tickets became available.

That leaves open the possibility that the couple passed through the first checkpoint as legitimate attendees of the arrival ceremony. I asked the White House about the arrival ceremony specifically, and a White House official told me that “the Salahi’s were not cleared to enter the White House grounds for any reason.”

Michele Jones never confirms either event for the couple in the emails, except to accept their thanks the following day.

The crux of their defense, then, is that they went to the White House just to check if Jones had managed an 11th-hour miracle, and they say in a thank-you email that they were, indeed, on the list. The email conveniently explains that their cellphone battery had died, so they wouldn’t have received any calls telling them not to go.

The White House and the Secret Service have now fairly definitively ruled out every scenario that could vindicate the Salahis. While their future as reality TV stars may be bright, it looks like they could face serious trouble for what looks more and more like a ridiculous security breach.

(Video of the interview with Congressman King starts at the 2:55 mark)

While they differ as to the reasons for concern, both King and Kessler rightly agree that, despite the reality TV angle and the Salahis’ own penchant for the ridiculous, this story is no laughing matter. While the Secret Service downplays the degree to which President Obama faces a greater number of threats than past presidents, the fact that he does is a well-established fact.

So far, the official story is that a uniformed agent at the first checkpoint admitted the Salahis after checking their ID and physically screening them, but did not verify that they were on the guest list for the dinner, thinking this would be done by a later post.

Assuming that there’s nothing more to the story, this was an unthinkable breach of security. Attempts by some to spread culpability to the absence of a Social Office staffer at the checkpoint completely miss the point. Any idiot can pass someone through a metal detector. The most important part of that first checkpoint is to ensure that the person has a reason to enter, that they’re not windpipe-crushing, anthrax-smuggling stealth assassins. It’s basically their sole reason to exist.

Both the White House and the Secret Service, however, were quick to dismiss the notion that the President was ever in any danger, based on the fact that the couple were physically screened.

Part of the problem the Secret Service faces is that they must necessarily fight this PR battle with one hand tied behind their backs. First of all, any perception that the President is/was vulnerable could easily encourage others to give this a try.

This is compounded by the fact that they are limited in their ability to reassure the public, since specific security measures are secret (hence the name “Secret Service”). They are extremely vigilant about this.

Still, at this point, it sends a bad message to downplay the seriousness of this incident. When the Secret Service completes its investigation this week, some pretty drastic consequences are in order.

Gawker is reporting — with photo evidence — that the Salahis are “polo buddies” with an influential state dinner guest, Indian Ambassador Arun Singh. Whether it turns out to be this specific connection or another (they have a lot of powerful friends), it makes a lot more sense that they had a helping hand into the White House than that the Secret Service got conned by would-be reality show contestants.

As the NYT reported yesterday, Bravo has now confirmed that a TV crew for the upcoming “Real Housewives of DC” was indeed trailing the Salahis, who told the crew that they were invited to the dinner. The Salahis are set to appear on “Larry King Live” on Monday to tell their side of the story. Through a lawyer, they deny “crashing” the event, so look for them to explain how they were left off the guest list, but were added to the White House clearance list.

What struck me was the Secret Service’s response. When I talked to spokesman Ed Donovan yesterday, he was quick to accept responsibility for the incident, even though no investigation has been completed. (Secret Service director Mark Patterson told Politico that they were “deeply embarrassed” — especially since it’s been confirmed that the couple met the President and Mrs. Obama on the receiving line). Neither he nor the White House could confirm or deny that someone within the White House had interceded on the Salahis’ behalf, and both have pointed out repeatedly that the couple were subject to the same physical security measures as the other guests.

While it seems counter-intuitive that the Secret Service, already under fire for cutbacks, would take the blame for this if it wasn’t really their fault, the alternative is arguably worse. It’s fairly simple to mitigate a relatively harmless, isolated slip-up.

On the other hand, the idea that the vapid, privileged stars of a reality show could be waved through security and into the White House would not play well with recession-battered Americans (or with luminaries who couldn’t score an invite), and the security implications of the People’s House becoming the brass ring of D-list prankdom are also far-reaching.

The possibility that the Salahis were admitted at the request of a foreign diplomat is just gravy on top of the red meat.

What also amazes me is the credulity with which the media reported this story. As Gawker puts it, “the Salahis weren’t just some randos who showed up at the White House and schmoozed their way past the Secret Service with their fancy clothes.”

Yet that’s pretty much how it has been reported. Perhaps the pop culture appeal of the moxie-laden gadabout who skirts the velvet rope was too powerful a lure to resist.

Update: Report from NBC Nightly News about how the Salahis got through that first checkpoint, and how they met President Obama.

Photo of the Salahis with Ambassador Singh from Gawker.com

The Salahis, owners of the Oasis Winery and the America’s Cup of Polo, are rumored to be part of Bravo’s upcoming “Real Houeswives of DC” reality show. Actually, there are more than rumors. In September, the Salahis were spotted being trailed by a Bravo film crew, and Michaele Salahi’s makeup artist reported seeing a TV crew filming them as they prepared to crash the state dinner. Though Bravo declined to make a statement yesterday (even to NBC News, part of its corporate family!), today Bravo reluctantly confirmed that a “Real Housewives” camera crew was ineed with the Salahis as they crashed their way to the most exclusive ticket in town. They’ve got a flair for the dramatic, as their cheese-tastic wedding video shows.Yes, they’re throwing doves.

NBC’s Brian Williams also says he saw the couple’s SUV turned away at the East Gate, at which point they got, camera and makeup people in tow, and went to the pedestrian entrance. (video below)

I spoke with Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan this morning, and he would only offer  that they had identified a checkpoint at which proper procedures were not followed, and that the incident would be investigated. He stressed that, no matter which checkpoint was the problem, “It’s on us.” He stressed, again, that the Salahis had been subjected to the same stringent physical checks (magnometer, x-rays, etc.) as the other guests.

A White House official tells me that the White House has called for a “full review of the incident” by Secret service.

The Secret Service isn’t saying which checkpoint was the problem, nor will they confirm or deny whether the Salahis were already on the grounds when the misstep occurred. This is an important distinction. Once you’re inside the White House gates, it becomes significantly easier to wander into someplace you don’t belong, especially with a crowd. It’s possible that a White House staffer walked them through the gates, perhaps for a legitimate purpose. The Salahis know a lot of people in DC, as their 2,000-person wedding guest list attests.

It would have been a challenge for the Salahis to have slipped past the first checkpoint. First of all, the Secret Service Uniformed Division are extremely, shall we say, detail-oriented. On my first day at the White House, I watched them turn away a very famous person that they see pretty much every day because he wasn’t on the list. He was only admitted when a White House staffer vouched for him.

Since then, I’ve seen countless people hold up the line trying to get in, most of whom really did belong there but weren’t on the list, including me. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your story is, if you’re not on the list, No…Soup…For…You!

Even if you decide that once in a million times, someone could slip through unassisted, what are the odds that it would be this couple, who were planning to slip through? It doesn’t seem possible.

The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility has been tasked with investigating this incident, but it will be interesting to see how they let this play out publicly. If the Salahis got onto the grounds legitimately, and then snuck into the dinner, it’s embarrassing, sure, but a much less serious security problem.

If, on the other hand, they just managed to talk their way past that first checkpoint, it points up a disturbing vulnerability. Even though they were physically checked, there’s a reason for doing background checks on White House visitors, especially ones who will be sharing dinner with the President.