Last September, after a pair of notorious security lapses around President Barack Obama, the satirical website The Onion published a piece that said Obama, in order to protect himself, had taken to sleeping with a 32-ounce Louisville Slugger under his bed.

"If I hear anybody trying to break in, it's a relief to know that I can just reach under the bed and give them a reason to think twice about ever coming back into my house," the website "quoted" Obama as saying. "I know Michelle sleeps a lot more easily now that I've got this piece of lumber by my side."

The Onion's take on those incidents — two occurrences in a four-day span — was humorous. The security of the president and other high-ranking officials, however, is no laughing matter.

Recently we got a glimpse at another botched security incident, this one targeting Congress. Our nation's allegedly elite security teams struggled to perform their main mission, and it remains to be seen whether anyone in power cares enough to fix the troubling shortfalls.

Last week the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released its findings into the reaction of the U.S. Secret Service and the Capitol Police to Doug Hughes, the mailman-turned-gyrocopter-pilot who made a major news splash by landing on the Capitol grounds back in April.

Hughes flew his small, one-man whirlybird to the center of power to make a statement about the corrupting influence of money in our political system. While most of us would assume that was already self-evident, what Hughes helped expose instead was the lax security measures around our leaders.

Specifically, as the Senate report notes, the Secret Service failed to follow up after questioning Hughes two years ago. Hughes easily "misled" its agents about whether he actually owned a gyrocopter and planned to land it at either the White House or the Capitol, and agents prematurely closed the case after dismissing comments by Hughes' acquaintances that he intended to do so. Subsequently, the Capitol Police, whose job differs from the Secret Service in that it guards the facilities that house Congress, relied on the Secret Service's "incomplete information" and failed to conduct its own investigation, the report says. The Secret Service also failed to react swiftly on the day of Hughes' flight. A query by a Tampa Bay Times reporter that day, while Hughes was en route, about whether Hughes had obtained a permit to land his aircraft at the Capitol did not generate sufficient suspicion, and prompted a hand-off to the Capitol Police.

As for other defense or intelligence agencies, or the Federal Aviation Administration, the Senate report says that Hughes' gyrocopter presented a baffling "technical challenge" to surveillance equipment because his uneven speed and altitude had officials believing his aircraft was "a flock of birds or a weather pattern."

The report offered four recommendations to better secure the nation's capital from rogues like Hughes. They include: improving interagency communication, designating one agency to be the lead authority over Washington's airspace, closing technological gaps and toughening penalties. Let's hope the Ruskin mailman delivered a lasting message beyond the threat of too much money in politics.

Hughes is a benign character who wanted to make a nonviolent political protest, and faces nearly 10 years in prison as the price for that. But what if the 61-year-old letter carrier, who literally flew under the radar into the most heavily restricted airspace in the country, wasn't all that benign? What if he were an ISIS or al-Qaeda operative? Or even a homegrown "lone wolf" with a grudge against either the Democratic president or the Republican-led Congress? If his intent contained more malice than to complain that the Koch brothers or George Soros can too easily throw their weight — and money — around our political institutions, he could very well have succeeded.

We don't advocate enveloping the president or Congress in a cocoon. We've closed off too much public space since 9/11. And our frequently out of touch leaders already exist in too big a bubble. We must, however, do better to ensure our government cannot be decapitated.

REPRINTED FROM THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD