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.
TRULY SECRET SERVICE: "Mr. President, sorry to disturb you, just wanted you to finish your bike ride, but uh, hey we had to evacuate about 20-30 thousand people at the White House and Capitol this morning. A plane flew over pretty close and we scrambled some Jets just for good measure." "Laura? Oh, she was in the White House at the time but its all cool. False alarm." "So how was you bike ride?"
Holy mackerel. Can't someone get him a blue toothed, Blackberry?
Maybe the lamestream Press thinks Bush should have jumped into an F-102 and shot the Cessna 150 himself?
Good grief these pathetic journalists need to get a life
It was a tiny cessna. The president doesn't need to be briefed on every tiny detail at the moment it happens. What was telling him about it supposed to accomplish anyway? Nothing would have changed at all, except his bike ride would have been interrupted.
Kinda like reagan: "If our planes are shot down, yes, they'd wake me up right away. If the other fellows were shot down, why wake me up?"
How about:
"Mr. President, we are in heightened state of alert at the White House. A plane has violated air space and we are moving to intercept. YOUR WIFE HAS BEEN MOVED OUT OF DANGER AND SO HAS THE VICE PRESIDENT.
How about that? No different than an officer-of-the-deck of a US naval ship informing the captain at all hours of the night. Comes with the job.
I would have wanted to be told though.
Asolutely. Better safe than sorry. Now he has to defend staffers that have let him down before. And you know what I'm talking about.
Then you probably aren't presidential material. Well, maybe algore, micromanaging presidential material, but not good presidential material.
The job of the president is to manage the overall vision and direction of the country. He puts people in place to handle and decide how to handle situations like these - he's not there to handle or worry about them himself. That's what his underlings are there for.
I don't recall the media getting their shorts in a knot
when the WTC was bombed in '93 and Clinton did nothing
not even a trip to NY
Hindsight. Not all details are available at the time the intruder is detected. Besides, a Cessna 152 filled with C4 could obliterate your neighborhood and then some. And the President's wife was in the White House and potentially in danger. He should have been told. I sort of want to be told if my wife is rushed away in a limousine somewhere.
I sure wish these bed wetters would apply for a loan so they could buy a clue
"Then you probably aren't presidential material."
Yeah, better to let the inevitable occur, have your underlings react, and then tap dance. Please "Mr. Slam Dunk". Bush does well with good information. He just needs the opportunity to receive it. And then he decides. A few minuts means a few thousand lives these days.
And the President's wife was in the White House and potentially in danger
She was in no danger. There is a safe area under the White House where she and others went.
"The White House said the Secret Service held off informing the president because he was not in danger. "
IF this is true, heads should roll. What if the danger had been real? The President would need to take immediate action, he should have been informed IMMEDIATELY, when security noted the plan is flying into the no fly zone.
I can just see the media: Washington destroyed, while President Bush finishes bike ride.
You are exactly correct!
I can just see the media: Washington destroyed, while President Bush finishes bike ride.
I am a little more concerned about your city when
that marxist Mexican becomes your next mayor
IT'S CALLED PLANNING
You mean the "planning" during 9/11 when the nearest U.S. fighter jet to NYC was screaming in from Pennsylvania, half an hour away ("it was over less than 20 minutes")?
Sounds like this little plane got close. So much for planning. You are minimizing the fact that it was a screwup. Blinded psychophants do not help the situation.
I disagree with your assessment of the tale of today and the President's need to know what is going on.
The last thing we need is a man who delegates everything out and then can't even see fit to perform the most basic duty of the Constitution of defending this nation's borders against invaders, "friendlies" or otherwise and not pissing of our 'trading partners'.. jmo
didn't we have another fella in the white house for 8 years who never ever saw the need of talking with the head of the CIA more than a couple of time,,and then had the DOJ and FBI turn the other way as we were repeatedly hit by terrorists on our own shores.
Of course, he denied that he knew what was happening.
I'd like to think better of the current WH occupant, and that he wants to know what is happening and he is man enough to deal with it .
I'd like to think better of the current WH occupant, and that he wants to know what is happening and he is man enough to deal with it .
Well put.
Hey, he could have gone out and directed traffic too.
Our Military, first responders, etc. did the job they
are supposed to do. In less than a couple of hrs.
congress was back on the floor doing business.
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