A man has arrested near the White House after driving across the US with a gun and a knife in his car trunk on a self-described mission to go to the executive mansion.
RJ Kapheim, 41, of Davenport, Iowa, walked up to a Secret Service officer on the east side of the White House grounds and "told the officer that someone in Iowa told him to go to the White House," Secret Service spokeswoman Nicole Mainor said.
Mr Kapheim said he had driven to Washington from Iowa.
When officers searched his car, a 2013 Volkswagen Passat parked a few blocks away on the edge of the National Mall, they found a .30-30 rifle with more than 40 rounds of ammunition and a six-inch knife in the trunk, Ms Mainor said.
Mr Kapheim was taken into police custody and charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, and may face additional charges, she added.
Separately, the acting head of the Secret Service said that the agency charged with protecting the president had been "severely damaged" by harmful lapses, including allowing a knife-carrying man to jump a fence and run into the White House in September.
Joseph Clancy told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee he had sought to establish a culture of trust within the Secret Service since replacing Julia Pierson, who resigned under fire as director on 1 October.
A lack of trust had driven some employees to take concerns about internal problems to people outside the Secret Service rather than trusting their supervisors and the agency leadership to confront issues head-on, Mr Clancy said.
In his first congressional testimony since becoming acting director, Mr Clancy noted "an urgent need" to re-establish what he called one of the most basic tenets of a well-functioning workplace: "Trust your boss that he will stand up and do the right thing."
An internal review released last week found that an intruder was able to scale the White House fence and enter the main floor of the building on 19 September because of major Secret Service failures, including an agent distracted by a personal cellphone call.
The incident involving Iraq war veteran Omar Gonzalez was one of the worst security breaches since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Mr Clancy called the report on the incident "devastating."
"Although I firmly believe that the Secret Service is better than this incident, I openly acknowledge that a failure of this magnitude - especially in light of other recent incidents - requires immediate action and longer-term reform," he added.
