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Tareq Salahi and his wife Michaele Salahi arrive for a state dinner at the White House - Source: Reuters -
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The White House says a couple who penetrated layers of security to enter a State Dinner without an invitation met US President Barack Obama in the receiving line.
The Washington Post first reported that a Virginia couple not on the official guest list, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, crashed the White House party but were never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent where the dinner was held.
The White House asked the US Secret Service for a full review of what happened.
The agency, charged with protecting the president and other high-level officials, is now conducting a comprehensive review of the security breach at the dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner on Tuesday, November 24," Secret Service director Mark Sullivan says.
He says preliminary findings of the investigation have determined that established procedures were not followed at an initial checkpoint.
The couple went through magnetometers and other screenings, but should not have been allowed to enter the event at all.
"That failing is ours," Sullivan says.
The Secret Service has said no one at the dinner was ever in danger.
The White House could not say immediately whether the couple had also met Singh.
A dozen pictures posted on the Facebook website show the couple posing with dinner guests including Vice President Joe Biden, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, CBS News anchor Katie Couric and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
The Secret Service is continuing its review and says measures have been taken to prevent any future such incident.
"The men and women of the Secret Service put their lives on the line every day to protect us. They are heroes and they have the full confidence of the President of United States," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says.
