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.
You are not fooling anyone my friend, I've seen your king come and go here, and keep it up... and I'm sure you will join the "GO" list shortly
Please excuse my spelling error... "king" = "kind"
I think it's ZOT time.
"Get a grip. This whole situation was under far better control than you imagine well before you even knew about it."
Get cable tv, and have a look at the reports on what is continuing to happen down at the southern border. And no I'm not blaming Bush for the mess that's been there a while.
Yes, I'm sure they would. By the time that Bush could be informed, the event was over. Is this some kind of mystery to you?
NAH.... Ramjet hasn't reached that level yet, he has taken a beating quite well so far :-)
That has potential as a tag line.
LOL, Kinda like "All your base are belong to us" :-)
Do we KNOW that the President was NOT advised immediately?
Dang... cable TV... good thought. I wish I'd thunk of it.
Southern border? Did this plane fly over it? I thought this plane was from Pennsylvania. Dang... best we should just "seal" dem borders anyway. Press the big zip-lock in the sky. That'll do it.
DING DING DING....... WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd suggest you do your homework. I know two folks who have served in the WH. "Downstairs" is pretty impressive. I will leave it at that....
"By the time that Bush could be informed, the event was over"
Don't think so pal. As the commo aboard my ship, I talked to NCA all the time instantly. No big deal at all.
I guess my final question is this, if the plane did hit the WH (remember now, three minutes away) causing great damage to life and property, and a staffer said "Mr. President, we were tracking a small plane that had entered the restricted air space and it appears it hit the WH." PRES: How long was it in the restricted air space?" STAFFER: Approx. 10 minutes. PRES: Did we elevate the threat to red? STAFFER: Yes sir. PRES: Why wasn't I notified?
I truly truly do not understand the big deal. The mystery is why is it a considered a mystery.
I left that one alone :-), The Basement of the White House can survive a direct hit by a Nuclear tipped Missile. That Cessna wouldn't amount to a fly in the ointment
Tulsa, you might want to cool your jets. IMOHO. There are too many assumptions going around here. Not knowing the facts, is a dangerous course. IMOHO
I smell ozone.
My concern would have been whether this was a distraction for hits 2 and 3, etc. I would have wanted to know pretty much real time.
But then, I'm a doctor (and a wife and moma) and I don't think like a general or a Secret Service agent. I'm sure I don't think like a President. I think like someone with more manageable problems, that *I* personally must resolve, without a whole intelligence service and army, etc., behind/in front of me.
"too many assumptions."
True. But alas, meaningful discussions to better ourselves and better support our elected leaders is the best gift of a free society. Condemnation for questioning process is unfortunate.
I think what made this situation unique (did anyone else hear this/read this) was that the pilot wasn't responding to calls for identification. If some dimwit with a pilot's license gets cocky and flies into the WH airspace, but tells the controllers that he's there, the president shouldn't be alerted until afterwards.
But if a small craft refuses to ID itself and there is an evacuation occurring, why not at least appraise him of the situation? No need to spirit him off somewhere. Just let him in on what's going on.
Thanks. I'm glad you said it. Ramjet appaears a little green to be ... whatever. And, Ramjet seems a little loose-in-the-sprocket.
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