Commenting on the three helicopter limit an insider told the Daily Star newspaper: "Various US aides said that wouldn't be possible. The President has a small army of Secret Service agents who follow him all over. Always an unnamed “insider”.
I worked for a large non-profit women’s org in Baltimore that had an annual luncheon with some very high profile guest speakers. Over the years we had Coretta Scott King, Lea Rabin the former First Lady of Israel, Madeleine K. Albright, Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and Jehan Sadat, former First Lady of Egypt and widow of Anwar Sadat. Needless to say all of them had some pretty heavy security.
I was in charge of tracking the corporate table sales and sponsorships and the individual tickets and providing registration oversite and ensuring that everyone was checked in and seated on time at the event among a lot of other duties.
But one year the guest speaker was former Prime Minster of Great Britain; The Lady Margaret Thatcher and the security for that event was like nothing I had ever dealt with at previous or later events.
A few weeks before the event the org members and I were contacted by Scotland Yard. We all had to undergo background checks performed not by the FBI or the SS but by Scotland Yard; I had to submit to Scotland Yard several days in advance of the luncheon a complete list of all attendees, the names and their affiliations (the company the worked for or if individuals, their address), and exactly where they were being seated. And I had to show up early that morning to coordinate with the hotel security and the Scotland Yard agents for a security sweep of the area that included bomb sniffing dogs.
Evidently there was either some sort of known security threat or as one (BTW a very strikingly handsome and charming but serious) Scotland Yard agent told me, “Baltimore was and still is a hotbed of IRA supporters” (something I never knew). And at each of the registration tables there was at least one plain clothed Scotland Yard agent quietly over seeing everything.
There was only one person that raised an alarm. He actually handed me a slip of paper for a question he said he really, “really” needed to ask for the Q&A (and there was no Q&A scheduled) and he seemed really strange and his note, very rambling and disturbing. But even before I could alert one of the Scotland Yard agents, he was quietly pulled out of line and taken off. I think the Scotland Yard agents were expecting him to show up…
Anyway, my point is that Lady Thatcher traveled with a large Scotland Yard detail. I am sure Scotland Yard coordinated with the local FBI, SS and the local police but from what I saw, they, Scotland Yard, were calling the shots when it came to Lady Thatcher’s security.
They were professional and polite but no-nonsense.
I very much doubt that the Queen herself would have ever said “three helicopters only”. Any security coordination would have been worked out in advance between the SS and Scotland Yard. And both are very professional.
While no fan of Obama, this smells like a BS tabloid story.
“”he really, “really” needed to ask for the Q&A (and there was no Q&A scheduled) and he seemed really strange and his note, very rambling and disturbing””
Were his initials BHO?? That describes someone who resides in our White House! “Really strange, very rambling and disturbing!”