Posted on 05/11/2005 8:56:13 PM PDT by Tulsa Ramjet
Bush not told about plane scare until after biking
Photo: Reuters Click to enlarge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush was not told for nearly an hour while he finished a bike ride about a breach in White House airspace on Wednesday that prompted the highest alert since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the White House said. The White House said the Secret Service held off informing the president because he was not in danger.
Bush was about a half-an-hour into his ride at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland when an unidentified Cessna airplane came near the White House, sending the Secret Service scrambling to evacuate Vice President Dick Cheney and move First Lady Laura Bush to a secure location.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president's Secret Service detail was informed about the plane at about 11:59 a.m., when the decision was made to raise the threat level at the White House to "yellow."
Fighter planes were immediately scrambled to intercept the plane, and the threat level at the White House was raised all the way to "red" before the "all clear" was given at 12:14 p.m.
McClellan said Bush was informed about the incident around 12:50 p.m. at the end of his ride. He left the reserve around 12:57 p.m. and returned to the White House at around 1:30 p.m., well after the security scare had ended. ADVERTISEMENT
"A determination was made that the threat posed no danger to the president since he was at an off-site location, and protocols were in place to protect people in the area of the threat," McClellan said. "Those protocols did not require any presidential authority."
"Given such circumstances and the fact that the plane turned away from the White House, the decision was made to inform the president upon conclusion of his bike ride," McClellan said.
Bush had left the White House at about 11:03 a.m. and had arrived at Patuxent for the bike ride at 11:34 a.m.
I've understood you the whole time ramjet. Just a courtest notification is all you have been saying. I'm not sure why you are getting such a hard time about it, but don't worry about that.
FTR, I agree with you. A simple notification to the President seems to be perfectly reasonable. Especially with Laura and Nancy Reagan involved.
I'm in complete agreement with your post. I have been shocked at how nasty this has gotten.
Thank you. I might have called it the worry award - when the teens or my husband are late, or if the patient seems to get worse, I'm always worried about when to call for help. Do I risk over reacting, or wait until there's obviously a problem that I can't handle?
Wow, people are making a hell of a lot about a little cessna that drifted into restricted airspace. You'd think it was carrying 1,000 lbs of anthrax.
Apparently you don't recall the reagan style of management- it's pretty much the same as bush. Handle the important things, delegate the minor things, and if something comes up, tell me right away if I need to know right away.
That's an effective style of leadership. Expecting him to be told every time a cessna violates DC airspace - especially if he's not at the capitol - is a little ridiculous.
'drifted'into restricted airspace. You think terrorists weren't watching?
ridiculous? personally, I think your comments are ridiculous, but that's just me., imo
There was no known guarantee that that little plane wasn't capable of causing damage or casualties on the ground.
"Handle the important things, delegate the minor things."
Agreed. But better get it on record that you provided info to the pres. on an event.
Case in point: Back in 1990 when I was a lowly LTjg, my 600 ft ship was docked in Port Said, Egypt, bow faced inward on the channel. The general navigation plan was to use tugs to spin the ship and head out to the Med. I was the officer of the deck for the sea and anchor detail. And noticed a little strange thing. The length of the ship was greater than the width of the channel. Nobody was saying anything, not the OPSO, not the Navigation officer, not the Captain who was hanging out on the bridgewing. We were to get underway in 5 minutes. The pressure is there not to say anything, especially with a volatile CO. I mentioned it to an LDO (limited duty officer) whose seasoned judgement everyone seems to trust and said I needed to tell the captain. Yes, it would delay everything, and I better have an alternative plan. I did tell the Captain, he exploded at everyone, as guessed, and wanted to know what the h*ll were we going to do now? Back out of the channel for 6-8 miles?? I suggested on going further up the channel to a widened lake area, and yes, it would add an hour to our departure. He relented, and things went well, and he forgot about it one hour later. We got lucky or all of the bridge watch and Captain might have been helo'd off the ship by the area commander, after we grounded.
The president needs good info. Let him develop among his immediate staffers what is important and not important. I did my grad thesis on the U.S. presidential chief of staff since Lincoln and stopped at Clinton. so I have a little insight on too much protection, too much delegation, and lack of info flow. Carter was the worst. Much depends on the personality of who is in the office.
As long as it didn't detonate.
I got the tin foil on, but I think this whole thing was a realistic drill that only a very few knew about.
This double-layer of stub girders shown in the White House reconstruction (1948-52) appears to fit the description of the top of a double-layered bomb shelter:
"We stopped all building in Washington when we built this bomb shelter. We took all the concrete and steel there was in Washington. These walls have three feet of concrete and steel; the top has three feet of concrete and steel, a space of three feet, then another three feet of concrete and steel." I went in it. This motor is supposed to filter this air for 48 hours to take care of 200 people. -- Ted J. Sanders
"Over the years, there have been several additions made to the main building, including the west wing (1902), the east wing (1942), and a penthouse and a bomb shelter (1952). The west wing, which contains the president's oval office and the offices of his staff, is the center of activity at the White House. During Harry Truman's presidency, from Dec. 1948 to March 1952, the interior of the White House was rebuilt, and the outer walls were strengthened. Nevertheless, the exterior stone walls are the same ones that were first put in place when the White House was constructed two centuries ago." -- Department of the Interior, U.S. National Park Service via Infoplease.
Cheney was at the White House working - the real president of the USA it seems.
Maybe someone should tell him as president of teh USA he should not be bike riding on company time in teh afternoon while old man Cheney is was running the country.
Why was the President of the USA not working in the middle of teh afternoon while the VP (who histirically has no such role) was working in the White House? While Nancy REagan was visiting no less?
You may be right. I might have jumped the gun.
Is that you Michael Moore?
No, I work for a living unlike Michael Moore and George Bush it seems.
I guess you're upset about how things are going for your side, so you make the juvenile claim the President Bush doesn't work for a living. You liberals are so predictable
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