Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said the man tried to climb the temporary barrier on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the grounds yesterday.
The barrier has been put in place after an incident in September when an intruder climbed the fence and eventually got inside the White House.
The man was taken into custody by the Secret Service and charged with unlawful entry, Leary said.
No information was immediately available about the man or any motive he may have had. Leary said an effort would be made to speak with him.
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The auxiliary barrier is composed of a series of inter- locking metal sections about eight-feet long and about three- and-a-half feet high. Each section, which includes a series of vertical bars, looks like a bicycle rack.
Last week, a small drone crashed into the lawns of the White House, but the man controlling the aerial vehicle said he did not intend it to go there.