A man who approached Secret Service outside the White House was arrested after officers found a rifle, 6-inch blade and ammunition in his car Wednesday afternoon.
R.J. Kapheim, 41, approached a Secret Service officer just before 1 p.m. and said "someone in Iowa told me to drive to the White House."
Officers found a .30-30 rifle, a 6-inch fixed blade and ammunition in Kapheim's parked car at 16th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.
Kapheim was arrested for having an unregistered firearm, and additional charges are pending.
His arrest came just as the Secret Service's acting director Joseph Clancy was testifying in Congress about low morale he said has contributed to high-profile oversights by agents recently.
The agency has been under scrutiny since a Texas Army veteran, Omar Gonzalez, leapt over a White House fence on Sept. 19 and charged into the White House.
Gonzalez made it way all the way into the East Room before he was tackled, thanks to a string of Secret Service failures detailed in an internal review out last week.
