TRUMP LAND - Protecting Trump's Phallic Symbol

"The towering challenge of protecting the Trumps in New York" PBS NewsHour 1/18/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  When Donald Trump moves into the White House, Trump Tower will still be a home of the first family.  Securing the skyscraper presents unprecedented challenges, not to mention traffic gridlock, a hardship on nearby businesses and a fight over who should be paying the sky-high costs.  The NewsHour's Rhana Natour reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  With just a couple days left until the inauguration, much of the nation's attention is on President-elect Trump's move into the White House.

But Midtown Manhattan residents are still focusing on the gold skyscraper of Trump Tower, which will continue to be a home for the Trump family.

Producer Rhana Natour looks at the unprecedented challenges of securing that residence and the financial fallout.

RHANA NATOUR, Producer:  This is the new reality along the storied Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, dogs, chains, and intense security.

The President-elect has used Trump Tower as a base for transition meetings since the election, and while he will relocate to the White House after the inaugural, his wife, Melania, and 10-year-old son Barron plan to stay in Trump Tower through the end of the school year.

Evy Poumpouras is a former Secret Service agent.  For 12 years, she was part of the presidential detail for Presidents Obama, Clinton and both Bushes.

We are seeing delivery truck after delivery truck being searched in and out.  What is happening here?

EVY POUMPOURAS, Former Secret Service Agent:  So, we want to control what's coming into the area of Trump Tower.

And one of the biggest issues are large vehicles that can actually have large amounts of an explosive.  And a truck would be a perfect thing, a perfect IED, a vehicle device, to use.

So, what they will do is, you will typically have the vehicle stopped.  They will search the vehicle, make sure there's nothing inside the vehicle, underneath the vehicle, make sure it's clean.

RHANA NATOUR:  Trump Tower stretches 57 stories, with 26 floors of offices, three retail stores and hundreds of tenants.  It is also surrounded by other skyscrapers, compounding the security challenge.

EVY POUMPOURAS:  Right now, planes aren't allowed to fly over Trump Tower, same thing that happens over at the White House.  But then you have that variable.  He's up top.  He's high on the floor.  Planes are a concern.

RHANA NATOUR:  And, as technology evolves, there are ever greater risks.

EVY POUMPOURAS:  Drones.  Can somebody use a drone, not just to go up there and, you know what, I want to see the future president?  You can actually strap explosives, weapons to those drones, fly them up, and then cause harm in that way.

And then also even cyber-security, radiation, contamination in the air, chemical — any type of chemical airborne attack, that's also an issue.  The tower itself, one of the things we look at is what we call the H-VAC system, which is where the air intake system is.  That's super dangerous as well.

PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY - CDC Guard Fired

"Security guard fired after elevator ride with Obama" by Stephanie Condon, CBS News 11/3/2014

Former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson was compelled to resign last month after a series of mishaps at the agency -- including an incident at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in which President Obama found himself on an elevator for a security guard armed with a gun.

Pierson, however, wasn't the only one who lost her job after the incident at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters on Sept. 16.  Kenneth Tate, the private security guard who rode in the elevator with Mr. Obama, was fired about a week after the president's visit, the New York Times reports.

"This was unjust and has been a nightmare," Tate told the Times, explaining his side of the story.

For one thing, Tate said he was assigned to accompany Mr. Obama as the President visited the CDC.  Additionally, while reports initially indicated that Tate was a convicted felon, his employer -- the private security firm Professional Security Corporation -- confirmed to the Times that Tate had no felony or misdemeanor convictions.  Tate had been arrested on robbery and assault charges but never convicted.

The security guard said he was never given an official explanation for his termination, though it seemed like the Secret Service was angry over a picture he tried to take of Mr. Obama's armored limousine, called "the beast."

After he snapped the picture, the Secret Service pulled Tate aside for questioning, he said.  He deleted the picture as requested.  After the interview, the CDC took away his badge, and he was fired about a week later.

SATIRE - Secret Service Hearing, 'The Onion'

"Obama Currently Being Chased In Background Of Secret Service Hearing" News in Brief, The Onion 10/1/2014

WASHINGTON—In the wake of a series of lapses in presidential security, Secret Service director Julia Pierson appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Tuesday, seemingly unaware that President Obama himself was, at that moment, being chased by an assailant in the background.  “We have made mistakes, and we want to assure the American people that we are committed to fixing them,” Pierson said, as a frantic Obama ran back and forth through the congressional hearing room, occasionally clambering over chairs to escape what observers described as a highly agitated man with a knife.  “Protecting the president is our most important duty, and you have my promise that from this moment forward, we will do it as we should.”  At press time, Obama was seen blocking knife blows with a legal pad as Pierson declared her intention to conduct a thorough internal review.

SECRET SERVICE - What Went Wrong?

"What went wrong at the Secret Service?" PBS NewsHour 10/1/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  We begin with the shakeup at the Secret Service.  The agency’s embattled director Julia Pierson has resigned after a series of incidents that punctured presidential security.

JOSH EARNEST, White House Press Secretary:  Director Pierson offered her recommendation — her resignation today because she believed that it was in the best interest of the agency to which she has dedicated her career.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  From White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, the official announcement this afternoon.  Pierson offered to resign, and the president accepted.

JOSH EARNEST:  Over the last several days, we have seen recent and accumulating reports raising questions about the performance of the agency, and the president concluded that new leadership of that agency was required.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Just yesterday, Pierson, a 30-year Secret Service veteran, had apologized for security lapses before a House panel yesterday.

JULIA PIERSON, Director, Secret Service:  This is unacceptable, and I take full responsibility.  And I will make sure that it does not happen again.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Pierson was called to account for a series of revelations, that, in 2011, it took four days for the Secret Service to realize shots had hit the White House and that, last month, a fence jumper with a knife made it deep inside the mansion.  But the director’s answer left lawmakers from both parties cold.

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH, (D) Massachusetts:  I wish to God you — you protected the White House like you’re protecting your reputation here today.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  After the hearing ended came yet another disclosure, that two weeks ago, while the president was in Atlanta, a security guard with a gun and a record of assault and battery got on an elevator with him.

Today, Pierson told Bloomberg News it’s in everyone’s interest that she resign, but she said — quote — “It’s painful to leave as the agency is reeling from a significant security breach.”

Meanwhile, the accused fence jumper, Omar Gonzalez, appeared in federal court.  His lawyer entered a not guilty plea to federal and local charges.

For more on the Pierson resignation, we turn to Carol Leonnig of The Washington Post.  She’s broken several major stories on the Secret Service’s lapses, and she joins us now from The Post’s newsroom.

U.S. SECRET SERVICE - Not Protecting the President?

"Secret Service under scrutiny for White House security breach – Part 1" PBS NewsHour 9/29/2014

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JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The Secret Service is under scrutiny again for its handling of security of the first family.  The Washington Post reported late today that the recent fence-jumper made it farther into the White House than was previously disclosed, and even overpowered one Secret Service agent, this on top of a new report that showed a botched handling of a previous attack.

JOSH EARNEST, White House Press Secretary:  The president does retain confidence in the leadership of the Secret Service and in the men and women of the Secret Service.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The White House found itself defending its defenders again today.  Press Secretary Josh Earnest addressed reports of an incident three years ago that could have put the first family in danger.

JOSH EARNEST:  What’s required in an environment like this is a security organization that is adept, that is nimble, and that can be constantly both reviewing and upgrading their posture as necessary.  That’s difficult work, but the president and first lady have confidence in the ability of the Secret Service to do it.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The Washington Post reported Saturday that it took four days in November 2011 before the Secret Service realized a gunman had shot at and hit the White House seven times.  The president and first lady were away, but daughter Sasha and her grandmother were inside.

Reports of shots fired were not linked to the White House itself until a housekeeper spotted broken glass and a chunk of cement knocked loose by a bullet.  The shooter, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez, who’s from Idaho, fled the scene, but was later arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The new disclosures came only a few days after an Iraq war veteran jumped a fence, ran across the lawn and made it just inside the executive mansion.  Officials have since put up new barriers, keeping tourists and passers-by even farther away.

"Failures of White House security raises concern about Secret Service complacency – Part 2" PBS NewsHour 9/29/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  How was Omar Gonzalez, the man who jumped the White House fence and ran into the mansion, able to breach every layer of security designed to keep intruders out?  Judy Woodruff speaks with Carol Leonnig of The Washington Post, who broke stories on the most recent threat, as well as how the Secret Service fumbled the investigation of a 2011 shooting at the White House.

AMERICA - Secret Service Scandal Expands

"More Secret Service Agents Out as Scandal Inquiry Expands" PBS Newshour 4/20/2012

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RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): With new details unfolding all week about just what happened during the president's trip to the Summit of the Americas, the Associated Press is reporting the Secret Service has placed another employee newly implicated in the scandal on leave.

Officials tell the AP two more agents are resigning today, while another has been fired, bringing to six the Secret Service employees forced out so far.

For Secret Service agents, it's been a week of disclosures culminating in the news that more will lose their jobs. They were among 11 agents recalled from this hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, last week on allegations they used prostitutes they met at a local strip club.

The Washington Post today identified two of the three agents ousted earlier this week in the scandal. It turned out one of them, David Chaney, had posted a picture on Facebook of his time protecting Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in 2008.

His comment read, "I was really checking her out, if you know what I mean."

UPDATE

"Shields, Brooks on Voter Volatility, Obama vs. Romney Over 'Big Visions'" PBS Newshour 4/20/2012

Leading excerpt on Secret Service

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): First, an update on the Secret Service story.

A short time ago, the agency announced three more employees have resigned and one additional has been implicated. Another was cleared of serious misconduct, but will face administrative action.

AMERICA - Secret Service Scandal Investigation

"Secret Service Scandal: What's Known, What's Under Investigation?" PBS Newshour 4/16/2012

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MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): The Secret Service sent 11 of its agents home after allegations of misconduct involving prostitutes at their hotel in Cartagena.

In an announcement Saturday, the agency said, "The nature of the allegations, coupled with a zero tolerance policy on personal misconduct, resulted in the Secret Service taking the decisive action to relieve these individuals of their assignment, return them to their place of duty, and replace them with additional Secret Service personnel."

All 11 were placed on leave and late today had their security clearances rescinded. The Secret Service noted none were assigned to the presidential protective division. Military personnel staying in the same hotel also are being investigated, according to the Pentagon.

President Obama asked for a rigorous investigation in comments to reporters Sunday.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If it turns out that some of the allegations that have been made in the press are confirmed, then of course I will be angry, because my attitude with respect to the Secret Service personnel is no different than what I expect out of my delegation that is sitting here. We're representing the people of the United States.

We're representing the people of the United States. And when we travel to another country, I expect us to observe the highest standards, because we're not just representing ourselves.

MARGARET WARNER: For more, we turn to Laura Meckler, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal who traveled with the president to Colombia, and Ralph Basham, director of the Secret Service from 2003 to 2006. He's now with Command Consulting Group, a security consulting firm.

IMHO this is much ado about nothing.