Washington, March 25 (RHC)-- The U.S. Secret Service, charged with protecting the president, is reportedly planning to build a replica of the White House in Beltsville, Maryland, to help protect the real one in Washington, DC.

The director of the scandal-plagued Secret Service told a House of Representatives panel reviewing 2016 funding that the agency would use the fake White House to train agents and officers to prevent incidents like last year's mansion intrusion by an armed Iraq war veteran. James Clancy told the House Appropriations Committee that his agency's budget "includes $8 million for the design and initial construction of a White House mock-up."

The director of the U.S. Secret Service said the agency's current training facility in Maryland has "no structures, vehicle gates, lighting, or other aides to enhance the training simulations." He said the training facility in Maryland will provide for a "more realistic environment conducive to scenario-based training exercises."

The Secret Service has been under fire in recent years for a series of security lapses and breaches in behavioral protocol including agents drinking while on or ahead of presidential trips. Clancy admitted to the committee that his staff coped with job demands by drinking.

Last month, President Barack Obama appointed Clancy, who was serving as the acting head of the Secret Service, as the permanent director of the agency, after a critical report into the incident.