British prime minister Theresa May is at the White House this morning, along with a gaggle of reporters who crossed the Atlantic to cover her trip. As part of the process to get cleared for entry into the White House, those British reporters were asked to provide the White House with basic information such as names and dates of birth. You might think that this would be no big deal, but apparently the Secret Service was unaware that in England, and many other parts of the world, birthdays are listed in day/month/year format.
Reported Jim Waterson, the political editor of BuzzFeed UK:
https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/825017459530936320
https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/825022128919629824
Waterson later said that those reporters who were born after the 12th day of a given month were able to be cleared, which seems to mean that whatever system the Secret Service currently uses was unable to handle the “month” field going to 13 and above. Yet another minor issue the Trump administration solved with wit and aplomb.
