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| A
Homeland Security agent guards the Capitol building
with a German Heckler & Koch G36K carbine. Intimidation
value was obviously high on the agenda for the choice
of gear. |
(CBS/AP)
Security for President Bush's inauguration — the
first swearing-in since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
— will be unprecedented with some 6,000 law enforcement
personnel, canine bomb teams and close monitoring of transportation.
In
describing the plans for the Jan. 20 event, Department
of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said that while
the decibel level was down on terrorism chatter, the 55th
quadrennial presidential inauguration was such a high-profile
event that security would be at its highest level.
"This
is the most visible manifestation of our democracy,"
Ridge said at a news conference near the Capitol, where
Mr. Bush will take the oath on the West Front.
Ridge
detailed some of the security plans, including patrols
of harbors, mobile command vehicles, round-the-clock surveillance
of the key facilities and thousands of security personnel.
He likened the resources to those used during the political
conventions last year.
"Security
will be at the highest levels of any inauguration,"
said Ridge, describing it as unprecedented.
The
Federal Aviation Administration has announced that it
will expand the no-fly zone, now a 15-3/4-mile radius
around the Washington Monument, to a 23-mile radius around
Reagan National, Dulles and Baltimore-Washington International
airports.
The
temporary flight restrictions will be in effect from 10
a.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 20.
Officials
expect up to 250,000 people to attend the inauguration.
Meanwhile,
District of Columbia officials are asking inaugural planners
who is going to pay the city's estimated bill of $17.3
million for events surrounding the Jan. 20 ceremony?
D.C.
Mayor Anthony A. Williams, in a letter to federal officials,
outlined the anticipated costs for the city. Police overtime
from Jan. 18-21 was put at nearly $5.3 million, producing
special license tags would cost $43,260 and construction
of reviewing stands was estimated at nearly $3 million.
Williams
cited these costs in a letter to Ridge and Office of Management
and Budget Director Joshua B. Bolten.
Sharon
Gang, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said the city has been
told that a supplemental appropriation for inaugural funds
would not be made.
Williams
suggested dipping into the Emergency Planning and Security
Cost Fund, which has been used for events such as former
President Reagan's funeral, July 4 festivities and protests
against the World Bank. Guidelines for that fund, however,
limit its use to planning and security expenses.
"It's
not our event. It's a 100 percent federal event,"
said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city's congressional representative.
Norton said the city should not have to dip into the emergency-planning
fund, much less homeland security dollars, for a presidential
inaugural.
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