WASHINGTON — The Secret Service “is stretched to and, in many cases, beyond its limits” and needs to hire 85 agents and 200 uniformed officers to sufficiently perform its mission, according to a report released on Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.

The report also said that the fence surrounding the White House must be “changed as soon as possible” and made at least four feet taller. The horizontal bars on it — which make it much easier to surmount — should be replaced with vertical ones.

The agency is “starved” for strong leaders, and its next director must be an outsider who would be “removed from organizational traditions and personal relationships” and “will be able to do the honest top-to-bottom assessment this will require,” the report said.

The report was completed by four former senior White House and federal law enforcement officials for Jeh Johnson, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He ordered the review in September after the Secret Service failed to stop a man who climbed over the fence and made his way through the front door of the White House before he was apprehended. The incident led to widespread criticism of the agency and ultimately led to the resignation of its director, Julia Pierson.