Intruder Shot, U.S. Agent Wounded on White House Lawn : Violence: A Secret Service officer intercepts an armed man who scaled a fence and dashed toward executive mansion. President was never in danger, authorities say.

Only four days into a White House security crackdown, a Secret Service officer shot an intruder and was shot and wounded himself late Tuesday night after the man scaled a fence and dashed across the darkened lawn toward the executive mansion, officials said.

The intruder, identified by Secret Service spokesman Carl Meyer as Leland William Modjeski, 37, of suburban Falls Church, Va., was shot in the upper body, while Secret Service official Scott Giambattista was hit in the arm. Both men were initially listed in satisfactory condition at George Washington University Hospital, authorities said.

Modjeski was brought into the hospital under heavy guard. He was later reported to be in surgery to stem bleeding.

Authorities said Modjeski scaled the 10-foot-high wrought-iron fence at the southeast edge of the White House about 10:45 p.m. Although President Clinton was in the residence at the time, he was nowhere near the incident and was never in danger, authorities said.

The intruder apparently shot the Secret Service agent, then was in turn shot by him. Details were sketchy and it was not clear exactly how many rounds were fired. Meyer said Modjeski was carrying a revolver.

Passersby reported the exchange of a number of shots before the incident ended.

Secret Service officers took up posts in a wide area around the White House after the incident, which happened far from the two-block section of Pennsylvania Avenue that was closed Saturday as part of heightened security procedures. The streets of the capital remained calm, with no outward sign of disturbance.

Spotlights illuminated parts of the South Lawn but the mansion itself was darkened.

Ronald K. Noble, undersecretary of the Treasury for enforcement, was overseeing the investigation.

The shooting occurred just after Clinton had returned to the White House after addressing a Democratic congressional campaign meeting. The President was reportedly meeting with Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta at the time of the incident.

There have been 23 incidents of fence-jumping at the White House since 1989. On at least two occasions, in 1976 and in 1978, the incidents were violent, and in 1976 the fence-jumper was killed.

The latest incident occurred only days after Clinton took the historic step of closing Pennsylvania Avenue in response to anxieties about the Oklahoma City bombing and the spate of violence near White House last year. Some security experts have warned that times of heightened publicity can sometimes encourage other attacks.

Last year, a depressed Maryland pilot crashed his plane into the south face of the White House, a Colorado man fired a series of shots into the north side, and a homeless man was shot and killed in a confrontation on Pennsylvania Avenue.

But the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19 deepened concerns about the vulnerability of the mansion to a car or truck bomb from the street.

Pennsylvania Avenue was closed off to traffic by concrete barricades and crash-proof planters, and commentators have lamented another sign that the nation has become a more dangerous and less hospitable place.

The two blocks between 17th Street and 15th Street are to be converted to a pedestrian mall.

The rerouting of Pennsylvania Avenue traffic is the most dramatic element of an 11-part security program that has been adopted by the Administration. Other measures call for revisions in air traffic rules to enhance security and improved coordination and emergency response by law enforcement agencies. The recommendations are the product of an eight-month review by the Secret Service, the Treasury Department and a specially appointed White House Security Advisory Committee.

The President had previously resisted suggestions to close the avenue, but in his radio address last Saturday he said it would have been irresponsible to ignore the advice of the Secret Service, “especially given the strong supporting voice of the expert panel.”