New York ( CNN ) -- The gate crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi want to be famous as stars of reality television . I am all for that . Give them a reality television series and call it `` Trial and Jailtime '' in the D.C. criminal justice system . This despicable , desperate , duplicitous couple disgraced the Secret Service and embarrassed the president in his home . They totally overshadowed the president 's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , the leader of an important ally . The incident made the Obamas ' first state dinner , honoring the prime minister and his wife , Gursharan Kaur , fodder for comedians -- and it certainly raises security concerns for other world leaders visiting at later dates . The gate-crashers need to be held accountable and not glorified . Unless they have some excuse we have n't heard yet , the Salahis deserve to be charged with criminal trespassing and lying to federal officers for starters . Yes , they dressed for the occasion , but the Salahis are no different , and should n't be regarded any differently , than a nut case who jumps over the White House fence and tries to run in the front door . The only difference is that the fence-jumper would be shot ten feet from his entrance point . I worked in a couple of White Houses and have always had the greatest respect for the Secret Service . These men and women put their lives on the line daily and often serve in long and tedious tours of duty . I worked in the White House when President Reagan was shot and I saw the extraordinary bravery of Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy , who was critically wounded when he took a bullet in the stomach after turning and putting his body between the president and the shooter , John Hinckley . But for all the bravery of its agents , the Secret Service lives in a world that demands zero defects . So I have to tell you I am appalled at the comments by the Secret Service spokesman who was described as saying it had n't been determined whether party-crashing is technically illegal . He went on to say he did n't believe the Salahis posed a security risk . Spin control is not needed now . Responsibility is the key word . Trespassing is illegal . How does the Secret Service know whether the Salahis were a risk or not ? The service apparently had not done a background check on them -- unlike every other guest and government employee in the tent that night -- because they were n't on the invitation list . Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan issued a rare apology , saying the service took full responsibility for the episode and was `` deeply concerned and embarrassed . '' Not good enough ! He needs to determine who was responsible for letting the Salahis onto the White House grounds and fire whoever it was , before he thinks about offering his own resignation . Public servants have to be held accountable and now is a good time to start . Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has fired some of the top people in the military because they were not performing at the level he expected . Can Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano , whose department oversees the Secret Service , expect any less ? Can an agency , Homeland Security , that has responsibility for securing our borders be trusted if it can not even secure the White House ? We live in a world of reality television in which egotists try to be famous for three minutes and land an appearance on the talk shows . The bigger question is what example this sets for our kids . If we glorify the actions of people like the Salahis and do n't hold them accountable , how do we teach our kids what is right and what is wrong ? The Salahis claim there 's more to the story . Their lawyer says they were n't crashing the party , but the Secret Service says otherwise . Based on the facts as we know them so far , there 's a simple way to deal with this case . Charge them , prosecute them , and if a D.C. jury finds them guilty , jail them . Make an example out of them . Then next November when the president is pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey , he can pardon them too . And after the pardon , as is traditional for the turkeys whose lives are spared , they can go live in Disney World -- a fantasy world that seems to be the perfect place for this pair . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ed Rollins .
The White House said an uninvited couple crashed the state dinner . Ed Rollins says the incident was a disgrace and is n't a laughing matter . He says the Secret Service must be held accountable for the lapse . Rollins says the couple should be charged criminally and jailed if convicted .