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Expert: Security will be invisible in Greenville
Despite running on a ticket promising “change,” little of it will be seen in U.S. Sen. Joe Biden’s picket-fence neighborhood in Greenville after the U.S. Secret Service moves in, officials said.
Providing security for Biden and his immediate family became the job of the Secret Service Saturday when Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama named the Delaware senator as his vice presidential running mate
The Secret Service would not comment on what kind of security measures it plans to put in place. But a south Florida security consultant said Biden’s neighbors shouldn’t expect much interference.
Will they change anything in the environment and in the area? Probably not,” said Joseph A. LaSorsa, a former Secret Service agent who is now president and chief executive officer of J. A. LaSorsa & Associates. “There is always an attempt to make the protection of an individual appear to be seamless and to have as little impact on the individual as possible. That’s in the private sector and that is also the objective of any government operation.”
The Secret Service, which was founded to combat counterfeiting, has been in the protection business since the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley. According to the Secret Service’s Web site, its agents work with state and local law enforcement, as well as public safety officials, to jointly implement security measures for the people they protect.
LaSorsa said the type of security measures that agents authorize generally depends on the environment they’re in. This could mean anything from the size of the property a house sits on to whether a person lives in a townhome or condominium.
“The terrain, the environment will affect the type of security that you put in to place,” he said.
Biden lives in an upscale suburban Wilmington neighborhood, lined with tall trees and manicured lawns. The two- to three-story homes are often invisible to motorists zipping along the two-lane Barley Mill Road.
Valerie Lee, one of Biden's neighbors, said she is not concerned about the Secret Service and media moving into her neighborhood because neighbors can handle it.
“It’s exciting,” she said.
Stephanie Cutrona, whose parents live near Biden, said increased security would be a good addition to the community.
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Cutrona said. But “I would assume, though, he would be gone.”
Although agents strive to not call attention to themselves, the increased security is noticed.
About a dozen Secret Service agents wearing dark suits and earpieces lead bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues, sweeping all equipment brought by journalists covering Obama. The also flank the candidate as he makes his way into crowds of supporters, The Washington Times reported, adding Obama security rivals that of President Bush.
Members of KAM Isaiah Israel synagogue, which sits directly in front of Obama’s Chicago home, have said they have less contact with the Illinois senator than with his Secret Security agents — especially when they need to use the bathroom, reported the New York-based Jewish daily, The Forward.
“They came in to introduce themselves and to apologize in advance for any disruption that their presence might have,” KAM’s executive director Sandy Lieberman told The Froward. Lieberman, in turn, offered to let them use the synagogue’s restrooms.
The bathroom-sharing deal initially ran into a few snags, the daily reported. At the start of Obama’s presidential campaign, Secret Service agents would sometimes attempt to use KAM’s bathrooms at night, tripping the synagogue’s alarm.
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