The shooting, in a high-traffic area near the National Mall crowded with tourists and other bystanders, was the latest in a string of security episodes involving the White House.
Adding to the problems, leading newspapers reported a string of security lapses, including the failure by the authorities to detect explosives brought into a competition site during a security drill.
So far, talks between the two countries have produced a string of security measures – extra fencing, CCTV cameras, infrared detectors and floodlights – but a notable lack of humanitarian relief.
The acknowledgment came as Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and his department faced harsh criticism in Congress over the loss of the hard drives, the latest in a string of security lapses at the New Mexico laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed.
The pattern of offences involving firearms looks more and more like that in America: random, careless shootings have replaced the carefully-planned bank robberies of old".Standards are down," asserts Terry Smith, who carried out a string of security van robberies in 1980s London.
It is a particularly bitter blow for those who have ridden out several tough years in the tourist industry, because it comes at a time when there seemed to be cause for a sliver of cautious optimism, with Russia talking about restarting flights after a string of security upgrades in the airport at Sharm el-Sheikh, from where Metrojet Flight 9268 took off.
A string of security lapses resulted in a four-day delay before the US secret service realised that a man had fired a high-powered rifle at the White House in 2011, in an incident that could have put President Barack Obama's daughters at risk, according to a Washington Post investigation.
Altima's exposure is the latest in a string of security incidents at internet providers.
This is the latest in a string of security incidents at T-Mobile in the past year.
