Inaugural Security

Posted on 11/23/2008 at 8:25 am by Bob Cesca

Four million people are expected. It sounds like a logistical nightmare, but they seem to have it covered:

People attending the ceremony and parade on Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by machines, security personnel or both. Precautions will range from the routine — magnetometers like those used at airports — to countersnipers trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away. Plus undercover officers, bomb sniffing dogs and air patrols.

I’m planning on attending, but I need to figure out a convenient way to blog from the scene. The last inauguration I watched in person was 1989 (Bush 41). I imagine this one will be waaaay different.

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  • http://www.nonfatventing.blogspot.com jennifer pearson

    Countersnipers are good. I also want him wearing a bullet-proof Armani suit and Kevlar underpants. And surrounded by invisible force fields, like in Star Wars and shit…

  • dontpanic23

    My last one was Reagan’s first in ’81. Our pictures are probably in some FBI file because we got there late and had to literally cross through the inaugural parade to get to the counter-inaugural protest. We just acted like lost-tourist jaywalkers and sauntered on through (in our No Nukes shirts and such–real inconspicuous I’m sure). But it worked.I hope the hell this one is way different. The only security I saw there was police and dog presence, no active searches. But that was a different world.

  • recruitgal

    Amen to Jennifer’s comment…

  • El Mystico

    I have a friend in DC who’s renting out his freaking driveway for a grand. Highway. Robbery. But at least that money’s not going to Mitt Romney…

  • http://www.twoeightnine.com twoeightnine

    iPhone for the blogging. 3G service in DC is fast. Typepad has both a mobile site, i.typepad.com, and a free app for easy blogging on the go.

  • NorCalNative

    One of my favorite moments from Bush II’s second inauguration was the flying snow balls that got Secret Service into action. Come to think of it, that’s probably my favorite moment of his whole Monarchial-I-hate-the-Constitution-thingy-terms.