The Secret Service told Dallas police to stop screening for weapons at Obama rally

[ariesgem]

DALLAS, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The Secret Service told Dallas police to stop screening for weapons while people were still arriving at a campaign rally for Barack Obama, a report said.

Police stopped checking people for weapons at the front gates of Reunion Arena more than an hour before the Democratic presidential hopeful appeared on stage Wednesday, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported.

Police said the order to stop using metal detectors and checking purses and laptop bags constituted a security lapse, the newspaper reported.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence -- who heads the department's homeland security and special operations divisions -- told the Star-Telegram the order had been intended to speed up seating of the more than 17,000 people who came to hear the candidate speak.

Lawrence said he was concerned about the large number of people being let in without being screened, but that the crowd seemed "friendly," the newspaper said.

Several Dallas police officers -- speaking on condition of anonymity because the order came from federal officers -- told the newspaper it was worrying to see so many people get it without even a cursory inspection.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/02/21/report_security_relaxed_at_obama_speech/8649/

:wtf:

[liberal N proud]

1. That makes absolutely no sense

One of my fears is that some crazy SOB will shoot Obama. And in Dallas? OMG

[Meshuga]

2. Pretty scary.

:scared:

[TexasObserver]

3. Might be time for Obama to hire his own security until the election.

How can you trust them when they work for Bush?

At a minimum, they failed miserably and inexplicably in the assassinations of JFK and RFK, and that's being charitable.

I've been worried a number of times when viewing what seems to be their lax attitudes about protecting Obama, and others have, too

[ThatBozGuy]

20. The Secret Service INCREASED protection of Mr Obama not decreased

I was watching the debate and became very concerned several times because I saw behavior from the secret service that showed they were on a much heightened footing in dealing with Mr Obama. I said to myself at the time I wonder what triggered this, and with my concerns raised, I hope he is going to be ok.

It was after the debate that I saw this headline and discussion and I realize now I have the opposite reaction and am very comfortable with his protection.

I will not justify why there was a takedown of security but I can speculate and I guarantee you from the observation of the final minutes of the debate coverage that the Secet service was not happy with the decision and likely not the orginator.

It was likely a people moving logistics decision, to get more people into the debate quickly that caused the screening takedown.

There are many debatable points why that could be a bad idea, but the least point is if someone was going to try to get a weapon in they know there are checkpoints, they are going to bypass that route anyways.

What ever the reason or regardless of who decided for them to go down, the secret service compensated quite heavily and it was clear that they were fully aware that Mr Obama was a higher target threat level then Ms. Clinton.

This is demonstrated very clearly in the CNN footage at the close of the debate and it was these last few minute that raised my initial concern.

After the debate while the candidates were at the footlights signing autographs and handshaking Ms. Clinton had an obvious Secret Service detail at wing point dispatch and an observer scanning the crowd. These agents were loose and about 6 to 10 feet off her flanks, at each shoulder point, and the observer at the stage footline was several people away.

Mr Obama's detail was much different, and maintained a very controlled tight bubble while maintaining his ability to interact.

This bubble was in plain site but a casual observer could miss the Secret Service behavior because they are effective at what they do.

Mr Obama had two agents at wingpoint maintaining distances of 2 to 3 feet (as opposed to the more casual 6 to 10 feet of Ms Clinton) from his back shoulders. There were two line observers at the floor. These agents were were forming a cone of contact(funneling people between them to Mr Obama) that at all times maintained less than arms length distance from Mr Obama and each other in that controlled enviroment.

There was a third observer on the stage with Mr Obama looking into the crowd at all points.

It was this agent that originally raised my hackles and concern because he was obviously functioning as a body manager. This agent was within the wingpoints agent's bubble of protection looking over Mr Obamas shoulder but almost always in physical contact with him. His hands were at all times on Mr Obamas back or hip at finger touch. The line observers on the floor were very tactile and capable of hand swiping anything in front of Mr Obama's field of contact by hand.

In addition there were two agents to the left or right on the stage that were nearly holding Mr Obamas hand in direction of movement( literally reaching out to him at almost every step he took one direction or the other) on the stage and maintaining a clear path of removal at all times.

I am also sure that in addition to these observable details there were other such bubbles of control and observation containing each layer of this close quarter detail.

The compliment to the Secret Service is they did this massive choreographed dance of protection under the eyes of all those cameras and unless you looked for the specifics it was very easy to miss. Watch the hands on contact of the Body Manager agent in direct contact with Mr Obama and it all becomes clear just how safe he was.

Rest assured Mr Obama is in good hands and while the headlines of security removal scream to the fear that many are afraid to admit or are ready to take arms and claim conspiracy over, take a few minutes to watch the footage from the end of the debates to watch what real active protection is about rather than the somewhat fake comfort, passive peace of mind protection that weapons screening gives us.

[TexasObserver]

22. Balderdash, but thanks for the spirited defense of the SS troops.

Like Dr. Frist, you're excellent at calling the brain dead alive and well.

[Flabbergasted]

33. Wow you certainly know your security details....

But why not just make sure there are no weapons in the arena in the first place? It only takes one guy.

[Nailzberg]

36. RFK did not have secret service protection.

It was his assassination that prompted LBJ to sign an order extending protection to presidential candidates.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Even a Madman can seem friendly

Lawrence said he was concerned about the large number of people being let in without being screened, but that the crowd seemed "friendly," the newspaper said.

I've been having real concerns about Sen. Obama's safety. Especially since Sen. Obama has been drawing such huge crowds. I certainly worry about it. I just hope Sen. Obama knows about this and complains to the higher ups.


Why would the Feds order the local officials to NOT do their jobs?:shrug:

[Flabbergasted]

27. Right. A member of the police would never ever look at security in this way.

[Submariner]

5. Yeah right.....Sirhan Sirhan was friendly too

the crowd seemed "friendly," the newspaper said.:eyes:

[lse7581011]

6. And In Dallas No Less?

not like anything bad every happened there before!:sarcasm:

[ronnykmarshall]

31. Is that chilling or what?

[still_one]

7. The good news is that the rally is over, and that this has been exposed

which hopefully means it won't happen again

This is pure incompentence, and whoever gave that command, should be reprimanded

[New Earth]

32. so this rally already happened?

and everything is ok?

[still_one]

38. That is how I read the UPI article, but it is quite serious /nt

[Glimmer of Hope]

8. That is crazy. I hope this isn't a standard practice.

[DemzRock]

9. Oh boy... Dallas, eh!? n/t

[BobRossi]

10. Orders from the top no doubt. nt

[NJSecularist]

11. In Dallas for christsakes!?

WTF is wrong with the Secret Service?

Who cares how long the people wait.... just make sure everybody is safe in the arena.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. "the crowd seemed friendly"

So all a KKKer with a gun has to do is walk in with a smile?

[NDambi]

17. No diggity! Unfricking believable!

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Something is absolutely wrong with the secret service.

Who controls them? Have they been infiltrated? Was there any massive investigation into their breach in procedure for the Kennedy assassination?

[ossman]

13. How about Blackwater?

[zulchzulu]

14. Nothing to see here...move along now...

That is a seriously screwed up situation. If I were in the Obama campaign, it would be time to hire 25 security goons to shadow him in Texas at least.

[my2sense]

15. kick

:kick:

[Araxen]

16. It only takes one "friendly" person

to ruin somebody's life...

It's inexcusable what they did.

[Vinca]

18. Bottom line - who do you complain to?

You can't trust anyone anymore.

[TheZug]

21. Outrageous. People need to be fired, immediately.

[Seen the light]

23. K&R

[Quixote1818]

24. Stunning. Those service members must be fired! nt

[faithfulcitizen]

25. Appalling! People need to be fired quickly for this.

[ronnykmarshall]

26. This is insane!

[Barack_America]

28. I demand to know the "logic" behind this decision.

Right now, I'm not seeing it.

Even if people are going to be seated out of range to target Barack, they are still a danger to those around them.

[dailykoff]

40. Plan B.

Plan H is tanking.

[bunnies]

29. There was no screening at all at any of the rallys I attended in NH.

No excuse for this at this point though. Its completely irresponsible.

[Seen the light]

30. So how long before this disappears down the memory hole?

Think we'll ever get an answer as to what happened with this or will this story be dead after today?

[COFoothills]

34. You gotta be careful in Dallas.

Stay away from Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository.

[New Earth]

35. is this rally over?

someone please tell me ASAP.

[ariesgem]

37. This story came out after the rally.

I still have to wonder if this is the norm for security screening at his events which seems to always number 10K plus. If that's the case, then it's unacceptable to say the least.

[dailykoff]

39. Extremely disturbing.

Anyone who thinks the SS wasn't in on the JFK operation is deluding themselves.