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In the category of “how could this happen,” combined with a tinge of irony, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's handbag was stolen by a brazen purse snatcher while dining at a Washington D.C. restaurant on Easter Sunday.

Let me address my own question – with two Secret Service officials present in the restaurant, mind you, the thief somehow managed to enter the Capital Burger establishment, sit near Noem’s table, inch closer to the table and use his foot to slide Noem’s purse toward him.

Minutes later, the purse snatcher - wearing dark clothing, a dark baseball hat and a white N95 mask – placed the handbag under his jacket and simply walked out with the Secretary’s purse in tow, according to surveillance video at the restaurant.

The thief supposedly got away with Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, Department of Homeland Security access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and around $3,000 in cash, an amount of loot I’m sure most people do not carry around with them, but I digress.

So how does someone who has Secret Service protection when she’s out in public - and in this instance, two officials who were seated between Noem and the front doors of the restaurant – have her property stolen in broad daylight with no action taken by those Secret Service officials who were literally sitting at the bar and seemingly able to block the thief’s path to freedom?

This security lapse defies logic. Who knows what the robber could have been capable of doing when he was scooting ever so close to a high-ranking Cabinet official? Stealing her purse may have been a small consequence compared to any serious harm the perpetrator could have inflicted upon the Homeland Security Secretary and her family.

“This is a security breach that actually has high consequences, and it needs immediate and further review by the Secret Service and DHS, and other law enforcement partners,” former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow told Kaitlan Collins on CNN’s “The Source” on Monday, April 21. “If necessary, the Secret Service will need to make operational changes on how they deal with these types of private events moving forward.”

Wackrow added that Noem remains “at higher risk for targeted threats, both by foreign and domestic actors, and just her public profile alone makes her a symbolic target.”

We don’t have to wrack our brains to think about another security lapse that took place just last July in Pennsylvania, when then Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet from a 20-year-old would-be assassin  who somehow evaded Secret Service officials and got on the roof of a building to fire a series of rounds, tragically killing an innocent spectator while protecting his own family.

These security breakdowns for government officials are happening a bit too frequently these days, and as we’ve seen, they can occur in large public gatherings or small, private events.

If security plans for high-ranking officials are not beefed up, the consequences could be a lot more serious than a stolen purse.