The cable network Bravo confirmed on Thursday that its cameras were following — and filming — an aspiring reality-show couple who managed to attend President Obama’s first state dinner at the White House on Tuesday.

In a statement to The New York Times on Thursday, Bravo said that Half Yard Productions, the producers for the series “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” was under the impression that Michaele and Tarek Salahi, two polo-playing devotees of Washington’s social swirl and on-line social networks alike, had been invited to the biggest and most exclusive soiree to take place in Washington this year…

Other security experts described the episode as very serious…

“A serial killer or terrorist or agent of Iran or North Korea could come in and release anthrax, for instance, and that’s not going to show up in a metal detectors,” Mr. Kessler said. He added that the Secret Service, in particular, should have been extra vigilant because threats against the president have increased by 400 percent since George W. Bush was in power.