Secret service steps up inauguration security
By GottaLaff
What a gigantic, enormous, gargantuan, staggeringly mammoth job this will be:
Law enforcement officials bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing far-reaching security — thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols — to safeguard President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing-in.People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine — magnetometers like those used at airports — to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols.
The Secret Service — the agency coordinating the security – also has assigned trained officials to identify and prevent cyber security risks. And, as it does at every inauguration, the service has mapped out escape routes for the 44th president.
In addition Washington’s 5,265 surveillance cameras, spread around the city, are expected to be fed into a multi-agency command center. [...]
Trotta acknowledged the reemergence of hate groups through the presidential campaign and since Obama’s election. Threats against Obama have been higher than any other president-elect in history. From Maine to Idaho, law enforcement officials have seen potentially threatening writings, racist Internet postings and other activity. [...]
He would not say whether Obama would get out of his car during the parade or if Obama would be surrounded by bulletproof glass at the speaking podiums, as he was in Chicago on election night.
There has never been an assassination attempt at a presidential inauguration.
Trotta said motorcades always present line-of-sight issues, and the inaugural parade is no exception.
Gulp.
Glad to see they’re well-prepared for so many horrific possibilities. What a shame these possibilities have to exist.
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