Operator of US drone crashed at White House was drunk: Report

The operator of a small drone that crashed on the White House grounds has admitted that he was drunk during the incident, US officials said.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the operator was the employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said in a statement the employee was off duty.

"Even though the employee was using a personal item while off duty, the agency takes the incident very seriously and remains committed to promoting public trust and transparency," according to the statement.

The drone operator, who had been drinking, decided to test fly his friend's quad copter on Monday morning.

The drone "was foiled, perhaps by the wind or a tree, when the employee ... lost control. ... He texted his friends, worried that the drone had gone down on the White House grounds," unnamed officials told The Times.

"In the process of what officials describe as nothing more than a drunken misadventure with a drone, the employee managed to highlight another vulnerability in the protective shield that the Secret Service erects around the White House complex," the Times reported.

Following the drone crash, the White House announced that the device posed no threat to the first family.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama are not in the US and their daughters are in Washington with their grandmother.

The drone crash comes as the Secret Service is recovering from a series of embarrassing security breaches.

AGB/AGB

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