But Rockie!...I know it was a G8 meeting But just because it wasn't talking about 8 different G's doesn't mean it wasn't important!"
Posted on 06/27/2002 5:07:20 PM PDT by Pokey78
THE safety of Tony Blair, George Bush and other world leaders at the G8 summit in Canada could have been jeopardised when a secret security document detailing their every movewas left in a busy picnic area close to the summit headquarters. To the horror of the Canadian Mounties and American Secret Service, the 134-page spiral-bound document, marked “confidential”, was left lying open on a large boulder in front of the main security barrier at the entrance to the luxury resort in the Rockies where the G8 leaders were holding their two-day meeting. It was found by The Times as British journalists left a press briefing with Tony Blair inside the summit centre. It was open at a page detailing the security protocols for the arrival of each of the world leaders at Calgary airport on Tuesday night. It showed the seating plans inside Tony Blair’s helicopter, including the locations of security guards and Alastair Campbell, his communications chief. It also contained secret phone numbers of each leader’s Canadian liaison officers, who were responsible for organising the arrival and departure of each President and Prime Minister. It contained diagrams of the meeting rooms where the leaders held their working groups, lunches and dinners. The room plans showed where each leader sat and where windows were positioned, to help the security guards to protect the G8 leaders against the threat of sniper fire and other attacks from outside. Dozens more pages gave a minute-by-minute account of each leader’s itinerary. There were minute details of exit doors used at the summit buildings, and journeys by motorcades and helicopters and the names of security personnel protecting the delegates. The breach is a huge embarrassment for the Canadian Government, which spent millions of dollars on the country’s biggest security operation since the Second World War. Some 7,000 Canadian soldiers, members of the Calgary police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers were mobilised. Armoured personnel carriers, heavy security gates and laser-guided anti-aircraft missile launchers lined the 60-mile road from Calgary to the summit in Kananaskis. The American Secret Service was outraged by the security breach, as were the Calgary police and the RCMP. On hearing that The Times had found the document, which was issued only to authorised security and event personnel, each agency sent an officer to collect it. The officers refused to answer questions but one agreed that the fact that the highly sensitive document had been lost in public was a serious breach of summit security. Michael O’Shaugnessy, a spokesman for the Canadian Foreign Affairs ministry, said: “The document you have is a working document used by the summit management. It is subject to change.” He declined to comment further. A spokesman for Mr Blair also declined to comment.
Oh well.....Ooooooops!
NeverGore :^)
But Rockie!...I know it was a G8 meeting But just because it wasn't talking about 8 different G's doesn't mean it wasn't important!"
The British reporter found the 134-page document, titled ``Program Events and Protocol'' and stamped ``confidential,'' in a busy picnic area outside the main security barrier leading to the resort in the Canadian Rockies where the annual G-8 summit was held.
The document contained details on seating inside British Prime Minister Tony Blair's helicopter, diagrams of meeting rooms, phone numbers for entourage officials and other sensitive information, according to Secret Service officials.
It included room diagrams that showed the locations of windows and where each leader would sit -- information security officials would need to counter the threat of sniper fire, according to the Times of London. The newspaper ran a front-page report on the document, headlined ``I Find Summit Security Papers Abandoned in Picnic Area.''
Police confirmed that a document was found, but said it did not compromise the safety of summit leaders or officials.
``The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reviewed the document in question and found it posed no security threat,'' constable Max Johann said. He had no further details on how the document was lost, and other officials did not immediately return phone calls.
Secret Service spokesman Jim Macken said the document was assembled by the G-8 for officials briefing the news media, and that one such officials had misplaced it. He was not certain which country that person was from, but said the person was not an American.
Macken said he did not believe the document contained any information about President Bush's movements or schedules. The Secret Service spoke with the reporter who found the document, and inspected it, concluding it posed no risk to Bush, he said.
This year's summit was held under the tightest security in Canada since World War II, with thousands of Canadian military forces deployed to protect an eight-mile-wide security zone.
There was only one paved road leading to the summit site. Soldiers with automatic weapons were stationed at quarter-mile intervals as Bush's motorcade arrived.
In February, the Secret Service acknowledged that an agent shopping for souvenirs left behind a document outlining security plans for Vice President Dick Cheney's appearance at the Winter Olympics.
Now that's a phrase I can get some milage out of!
LVM
February 26, 2002 -- Two Secret Service agents earned Olympic gold in doubles dimwittedness after they lost top-secret security plans for Vice President Dick Cheney.
The document - turned over to the Salt Lake Tribune by a concerned citizen - listed in detail precautions for Cheney at the Olympic Closing Ceremony on Sunday night.
The absent-minded agents left the document in a Salt Lake City store Sunday afternoon while they shopped for souvenirs.
"It had a pretty detailed description about what was going on," said Clayton Greenhalgh, who owns Traps, the store where the document was left.
The lost log described seating arrangements at Rice-Eccles Stadium for Cheney, his wife and daughter, and other dignitaries.
The document also detailed areas of the stadium where Cheney would be present, including a "meet and mingle" session in the presidential box.
The exact number of agents assigned was outlined, along with their positioning.
The Secret Service would not comment on the matter.
sarcasm off
Secret Service spokesman Jim Macken said the document was assembled by the G-8 for officials briefing the news media, and that one such officials had misplaced it
Seriously, have these people ever heard of 'ned to know?' Why would someone briefing the press need anything so specific?
Are any Islamics privy to this information?
Good point. It was a red herring.
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