[Jake Tapper, Cnn:] Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Time for the World Lead, he was supposed to interpret the day's speeches into sign language. Instead, this man now identified as Thamsanqa Jantjie basically flailed his arms. Observers say Jantjie was hired to interpret at the ceremony honouring Nelson Mandela, gesticulated without any discernible meaning and didn't even know the signs for "thank you" or "Mandela." In an interview with CNN David McKenzie, Jantjie defended his performance, but admitted something that's less easily laughed off than his wild gesturing.
[Unidentified Male:] What sort of disability do you have?
[Thamsanqa Jantjie, Mandela Memorial Sign Language Interpreter:] I'm suffering from schizophrenia.
[Tapper:] He told the Associated Press that he saw angels and was hallucinating while onstage. The A.P. also reported that Jantjie had been institutionalized at length and has had violent episodes. How did someone with serious, potentially volatile mental health issues wind up standing inches away from world leaders? Here to talk about it, former Secret Service agent and author of "Life Inside The Bubble, Why A Top Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away From It All," Dan Bongino. Sir, thanks so much. And before we start, we should disclose that you are running for Congress About of as a Republican from Maryland but we are not talking about politics today. We are here to talk about security, your experience as a former Secret Service agent. So this man, this interpreter, not only did he get into the ceremony, but he was allowed into the inner ring near the president. This seems like a fairly big deal. Is this a failure of the Secret Service?
[Daniel Bongino, Former Secret Service Agent:] I don't think so. That's not me trying to put lipstick on this, either. Clearly it was a failure. He was not only in the inner ring, he was in the inner, inner ring, the arms distance of the president, distance buys you time. There is no time to react if I'm within arm's length of you. If I know what I'm going to do, there's no time for the Secret Service agent, for me, no precognition here. It was a failure but I believe it was a failure on the South African front. I'll tell you why, having done a couple of these advances on foreign soil, especially the short time line advances. I did the signing of the START treaty in Prague. There's a significant trust component. I have worked with the South Africans. They are very competent. I think they were overwhelmed.
[Tapper:] The Secret Service did e-mail us to say that it was South Africa's responsibility to vet the interpreters. They say security measures were in place, agents were nearby ready to take action. I know they don't have jurisdiction for international events, but is the Secret Service allowed to do any vetting on their own? Would they be able to find out if an individual like this had some sort of institutionalization in his past?
[Bongino:] Yes, and yes. We do and we can. The problem is, we're used to United States operational law enforcement standards. NCIC, National Crime Information Center, we can just run your name and get basically an entire criminal history on you. Those standards don't necessarily apply overseas. So even if this individual, he may have been arrested and had a mental health history. They may not have known at all and if they don't know, our intelligence sources aren't going to know either. There's a co-dependency there.
[Tapper:] We talked about this before the memorial. We talked to Bob Baer, former CIA agent, a gentleman who worked in operations for a former White House. Instead of months, weeks to plan, this was a matter of hours. Ultimately, if you had been head of the secret service, do you think you would have given the go on this or do you not have the say? The president wants to go to the Mandela memorial, he's going to go?
[Bongino:] Well, realistically speaking, this isn't the movies. If the president wants to go, he's going to go, but they could have planned in advance. The Reagan funeral, the Secret Service had a plan. Everyone knew Mandela was in poor condition. They should have planned this out. The Reagan funeral, I was there
[Tapper:] The South Africans.
[Bongino:] Yes, like we did with the Reagan funeral. We knew he was in bad shape, planned it out in advance. When he unfortunately passed, it was seamless. The South Africans should have known that and planned in advance. It's their responsibility and they didn't.
[Tapper:] All right, Dan Bongino, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. We'll have you back to talk about politics. In other world news, Syrian rebels going to have to get their medical equipment and generators from somewhere else, at least for the time being, now that both the U.S. and Britain have suspended quote, "nonlethal aid to the rebels." This after a group called "Islamic Front" seized a weapons depot from the Free Syrian Army in the northern part of the country. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on a trip to Singapore explained the U.S. move.
[Chuck Hagel, Defense Secretary:] We are going to continue to help in the humanitarian area, which we have been doing consistently, but this is a problem. What has occurred here, big problem.
[Tapper:] As far as lethal aid from the U.S., we will go ahead and call that what it is, weapons from the CIA, it's not clear whether that will stop, too. This all comes about a month before the U.S. is scheduled to take part in the talks in the hopes of ending the ongoing war in Syria. I want to bring in our foreign affairs reporter, Elise Labott. Elise, specifically what kind of nonlethal aid are we talking about, how will it impact the rebels?
[Elise Labott, Cnn Foreign Affairs Reporter:] Well, it's nothing that's really going to turn this conflict around. It was nonlethal aid, food, medical supplies, communications equipment, trucks. But what this meant, the fact the Islamists seized these warehouses that belonged to the moderates is really a wake-up call for the administration that their policy on Syria is really in shambles right now because Islamists are gaining a lot of influence in the country, not just battling Assad but battling their own moderates. These are not guys in a cave in Afghanistan. These are al Qaeda linked rebels that are acting with impunity on the ground. In the last couple days, the State Department is criticizing them for massacres on the ground. There's a real concern right now that the country going to be overrun by extremists.
[Tapper:] So the policy in Syria has been criticized by foreign policy hands, including some who used to work for the administration, the Obama administration, as incoherent. Now it seems as though what's going on in Syria, even worse than whatever policy we have, just completely a mess. Is that what you're saying?
[Labott:] Well, I think the administration only has itself to blame because one of the concerns, one of the arguments of President Obama early on for not arming the rebels, not providing more lethal support, was there is going to be more extremism in the country, we don't want the country to become a safe haven for al Qaeda. Well, right now, it's becoming a playground for al Qaeda linked groups that are rivalling Afghanistan, Yemen and other countries. This is ahead of this peace conference in a month. These moderates on the ground are really weaker than ever. Now the administration has to regroup, my sources are telling me they are trying to discuss whether there are some Islamists that they can work with. There's a sliding scale of bad guys here. Some are linked with al Qaeda, some have more Islamic tendencies. They are trying to see whether they can bring these guys into the fold so they can all have a common goal of trying to get Bashar Al-Assad out. It doesn't look good right now.
[Tapper:] What a mess. Elise Labott, thank you so much. Appreciate it. This just in to CNN, North Korea's state news agency says the uncle of Kim Jong-Un has been executed. North Korean state news agency, KCNA, flashes traitor, Jang Sung-Taek executed. Coming up, in politics, we unveil politifact.com's lie of the year in a town where lies are as common as flies. What could possibly merit a special honor? And the Pop Lead, Bob Barker, you are 90 years old today. Come on down! You will never guess where Barker is spending the big day. Stay with us.