Confrontation between officers and alleged shooter at D.C. gala lasted 7 seconds

In the span of seven seconds — less time than it takes to draw a breath and steady one's thoughts — federal officers at the White House Correspondents' Dinner confronted and subdued a man carrying a concealed shotgun, one floor above a room holding the President and more than two thousand guests. The brevity of the encounter belies the weight of what it represents: the razor-thin margin between order and catastrophe that security forces are trained to hold. As details continue to emerge, the event invites reflection on the invisible architecture of protection that surrounds public life, and ho