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There is a knot of people standing outside the Northwest Gate of the White House. They are cold and unhappy, clutching driver’s licenses and other forms of identification.
Taking his turn, one man shouts into a communications box. He has an appointment, but he is made to feel as though he is a rascal after the silver.
There are no welcome mats at this or any other gate to the White House. You feel under suspicion until you are cleared in–when you go from indignity to thrilling proximity to power.
There are no waiting rooms or seats at the gates. There is no one posted at the gates to welcome visitors.
Things go badly for visitors who are not carrying ID. Some years ago, singer Vic Damone and his wife, Rena Rowan Damone, showed up at the Northwest Gate. They had an appointment, but Mrs. Damone didn’t bring her purse and didn’t have any ID. No ID, no entry.
The Damone tableau is played out frequently. The People’s House is not people-friendly.
Worse, because entry is badly organized, and often excessively restrictive, neither visitors nor guards respect the system–a clue as to how the Bonnie and Clyde of social-climbing, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, got in to President Obama’s first state dinner without an invitation, and even spoke to the President.
Security at the White House gates has grown since the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. Every subsequent administration has built on the excess security, and faux security, of the previous one.
The guards are members of the uniformed unit of the Secret Service. They complain about the job a lot. The problem seems to be pay; their beef contributes to the attitude faced by visitors.
The Salahi affair demonstrates how too much security results in a breachable wall. But there is too much faux security in Washington, too.
Since 9/11, a vast army of security people (rent-a-cops) has taken over corporate and government buildings in the nation’s capital. They sit at desks or in glass boxes in the lobby of almost every office building. They are there to get visitors to sign in and to show the dreaded ID.
But you can sign in as almost anyone and nothing happens. Any name is good enough in the world of faux security.
Every week I go to a particular radio studio, where I have to sign in and wait for a producers to escort me. The busy producers have to leave their consoles. The guards know this is a waste of time and effort. Everyone despises the charade and, therefore, disrespects the system.
At Voice of America headquarters, you have to produce a driver’s license and have your picture taken each time you enter the building. Taking pictures of all visitors is something even the White House does not require.
So which national secrets is Voice of America hiding that the White House is not? –-For the Hearst/New York Times Syndicate
Thanks for your wise and incisive perspective, as usual!
Thanks for your wise and incisive perspective, as usual!
I enjoyed your commentary in the The [Albany] Times Union, especially your reference to Voice of America security procedures in the Cohen Building. In fact, I almost spilled my coffee all over my keyboard as I read your last paragraphs.
In VOA’s totally secure building, every inch of every hallway is monitored by security cameras. Next time you enter the building, look up and you will see them. Most VOA employees are so used to the cameras, placed at regular intervals, they don’t pay any attention to them.
In addition, cameras photograph everyone entering and leaving the Cohen and Switzer buildings, driving or walking around them. A number of employees accused of cheating on time and attendance were presented with “evidence” based on pictures taken by those cameras.
After 9/11, a large sum of money–reportedly millions of dollars–was allocated to beef up the security of the Cohen and Switzer buildings, used by the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees VOA. But VOA employees have no idea how that money was spent.
Judging by the number of employees harassed or fired based on the information provided by the BBG Office of Security, it appears that these funds were used to buy all sorts of “toys” for the Office of Security.
No one has ever looked into the expenditures of the BBG Office of Security and the effectiveness of the equipment purchased with the taxpayers’ money. The AFGE 1812 president may have information on cases started against VOA employees, based on photos provided by the BBG Office of Security.
Soon after the outside cameras were installed, smokers standing in front of the Cohen Building watched as Feds and BBG staff “detectives” surrounded a car with several passengers inside. The car was parked on the street in front of the building. Several of the smokers approached the car and learned that FBI agents were conducting a sting operation: Apparently, they were following someone who was visiting an office in the Health and Education part of the Cohen Building. The suspect managed to leave the building and disappear, while Feds were confronting FBI agents. When it was all over, the smokers witnessed FBI agents yelling very strong words at the members of the BBG Office of Security. –A former smoker
I enjoyed your commentary in the The [Albany] Times Union, especially your reference to Voice of America security procedures in the Cohen Building. In fact, I almost spilled my coffee all over my keyboard as I read your last paragraphs.
In VOA’s totally secure building, every inch of every hallway is monitored by security cameras. Next time you enter the building, look up and you will see them. Most VOA employees are so used to the cameras, placed at regular intervals, they don’t pay any attention to them.
In addition, cameras photograph everyone entering and leaving the Cohen and Switzer buildings, driving or walking around them. A number of employees accused of cheating on time and attendance were presented with “evidence” based on pictures taken by those cameras.
After 9/11, a large sum of money–reportedly millions of dollars–was allocated to beef up the security of the Cohen and Switzer buildings, used by the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees VOA. But VOA employees have no idea how that money was spent.
Judging by the number of employees harassed or fired based on the information provided by the BBG Office of Security, it appears that these funds were used to buy all sorts of “toys” for the Office of Security.
No one has ever looked into the expenditures of the BBG Office of Security and the effectiveness of the equipment purchased with the taxpayers’ money. The AFGE 1812 president may have information on cases started against VOA employees, based on photos provided by the BBG Office of Security.
Soon after the outside cameras were installed, smokers standing in front of the Cohen Building watched as Feds and BBG staff “detectives” surrounded a car with several passengers inside. The car was parked on the street in front of the building. Several of the smokers approached the car and learned that FBI agents were conducting a sting operation: Apparently, they were following someone who was visiting an office in the Health and Education part of the Cohen Building. The suspect managed to leave the building and disappear, while Feds were confronting FBI agents. When it was all over, the smokers witnessed FBI agents yelling very strong words at the members of the BBG Office of Security. –A former smoker