The hearings rooms are set up so that the members are sitting on a raised platform. The witnesses sit at a witness table facing the platform, and behind the witness table there are chairs for the audience, which also is facing the platform, that is, the witnesses have their backs to the audience, and there is no physical barrier between the witness and the audience. {There are a few hearing rooms that have a low barrier between the audience and the witnesses, but it is no obstacle to passage.) Someone like Rice would have her security people sitting in the first row of the audience, or at the witness table with her, and/or standing off to the side. As I understand it, this episode occurred before the hearing started, and Rice had not yet seated herself at the witness table. I still can’t imagine how her security let that woman get so close. I really think this needs to be re-thought.