6 ms·

Driving home last night, maybe around 10 PM, I heard a deafening whump-whump-whump over San Mateo. It was almost extraterrestrial in nature. Crane out the car w

Driving home last night, maybe around 10 PM, I heard a deafening whump-whump-whump over San Mateo. It was almost extraterrestrial in nature. Crane out the car window to see one of those beefy helicopters with dual rotors. It passes. Then another one. This would have been Obama's entourage, yes? If so, a much smaller footprint than last time he was on the Peninsula. His motorcade shut down a nice stretch of the 101 for a few minutes.

goodgoblin 16y ago
I used to work in NYC and we could see the helipad out of our window, and when the president came to visit there were three identical choppers, presumably so that if you wanted to try and shoot him down you'd be playing 3-card monte.
- kmfrk 16y ago
  That, and at least one of them probably carries the ad-hoc hospital, weapons and agents, ABC bomb detection system, etc. The Atlantic had a great article with a break-down of the motorcade: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/the-presidential-motorcade/70681 http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/the-pres....
  - psn 16y ago
    Thanks for posting this - its a pretty good example of requirements creep. I doubt that anyone in the fifties planned out that the president would need 16 cars to go anywhere, but thats whats happened. One can picture the Secret Service holding meetings in which they decide to add "just one more" agent.
    - tptacek 16y ago
      To me, "creep" implies that much of what's there is unnecessary. If you told me adding 4 more cars to the motorcade would make the President more secure, I'd so, "go buy 4 more cars now". No part of the motorcade comes close to the cost to the world --- in damage to the markets and in the stupid subsequent policymaking that would result --- of a successful attack.
      - kmfrk 16y ago
        Dick Cheney could have been the president of the United States. I'll just wait for that sink in for those who consider cutting costs to Secret Service. :)
        deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
        Jach 16y ago
        No, no, no. Colin Powell could have been President! If they went after Bush, they'd certainly have gone after Cheney...
      - gaius 16y ago
        What about 10 more? 40 more? Tanks? Shutting down the city one block either side of the route? Does the Pres really need a Jumbo Jet to himself? A lot of it is just wanting to be seen to roll with the biggest entourage. Nothing wrong with that per se; diplomacy has been about impressing your counterpart with ostentation since time began. But it is what it is.
        tptacek 16y ago
        This is an easy, cheap, and boring comment. He's the President. He already won. Adding a tank isn't going to make him feel better about himself, and he's not the one who decides what his motorcade looks like.
        gaius 16y ago
        "Won"? Ho ho ho, wonder what Vladimir Putin would say about that? That's who it's calculated to impress, not you.
        gaius 16y ago
        Wow, sorry for insulting the Messiah. But I got 10 million karma, I can say what needs saying. Do any of you Americans even realize there are other world leaders...?
- elai 16y ago
  3 shooters, 3x the cost?
  - kmfrk 16y ago
    The hassle is hardly linear. Choppers are probably closer to being linear, because they are more vulnerable, but the motorcade consists of armoured vehicles - they're basically tanks - so it changes the whole game plan just to have more than one target. I'm sure there are other advantages to having transport doubles.
- Hovertruck 16y ago
  I used to live and work in DC, and on my way to the Metro in the morning I'd regularly be passed by the vice presidential motorcade. Not quite as interesting, but still fun.
russell 16y ago
Sometime in the late 90's I was driving north on I280 near Woodside CA. I got off at the Sandhill exit and found myself in the middle of Al Gore's motorcade to one of those private residence fund raisers. Evidently the offramp had been unblocked a moment too soon. Half a mile later I turned off onto the road home without having been forced off the road or tailed or visited by the secret service. I realized what was going on at the time, which made it a very strange experience.

goodgoblin 16y ago

I used to work in NYC and we could see the helipad out of our window, and when the president came to visit there were three identical choppers, presumably so that if you wanted to try and shoot him down you'd be playing 3-card monte.

kmfrk 16y ago
That, and at least one of them probably carries the ad-hoc hospital, weapons and agents, ABC bomb detection system, etc. The Atlantic had a great article with a break-down of the motorcade: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/the-presidential-motorcade/70681 http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/03/the-pres....
- psn 16y ago
  Thanks for posting this - its a pretty good example of requirements creep. I doubt that anyone in the fifties planned out that the president would need 16 cars to go anywhere, but thats whats happened. One can picture the Secret Service holding meetings in which they decide to add "just one more" agent.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    To me, "creep" implies that much of what's there is unnecessary. If you told me adding 4 more cars to the motorcade would make the President more secure, I'd so, "go buy 4 more cars now". No part of the motorcade comes close to the cost to the world --- in damage to the markets and in the stupid subsequent policymaking that would result --- of a successful attack.
    - kmfrk 16y ago
      Dick Cheney could have been the president of the United States. I'll just wait for that sink in for those who consider cutting costs to Secret Service. :)
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
      - Jach 16y ago
        No, no, no. Colin Powell could have been President! If they went after Bush, they'd certainly have gone after Cheney...
    - gaius 16y ago
      What about 10 more? 40 more? Tanks? Shutting down the city one block either side of the route? Does the Pres really need a Jumbo Jet to himself? A lot of it is just wanting to be seen to roll with the biggest entourage. Nothing wrong with that per se; diplomacy has been about impressing your counterpart with ostentation since time began. But it is what it is.
      - tptacek 16y ago
        This is an easy, cheap, and boring comment. He's the President. He already won. Adding a tank isn't going to make him feel better about himself, and he's not the one who decides what his motorcade looks like.
        gaius 16y ago
        "Won"? Ho ho ho, wonder what Vladimir Putin would say about that? That's who it's calculated to impress, not you.
        gaius 16y ago
        Wow, sorry for insulting the Messiah. But I got 10 million karma, I can say what needs saying. Do any of you Americans even realize there are other world leaders...?
elai 16y ago
3 shooters, 3x the cost?
- kmfrk 16y ago
  The hassle is hardly linear. Choppers are probably closer to being linear, because they are more vulnerable, but the motorcade consists of armoured vehicles - they're basically tanks - so it changes the whole game plan just to have more than one target. I'm sure there are other advantages to having transport doubles.
Hovertruck 16y ago
I used to live and work in DC, and on my way to the Metro in the morning I'd regularly be passed by the vice presidential motorcade. Not quite as interesting, but still fun.

russell 16y ago

Sometime in the late 90's I was driving north on I280 near Woodside CA. I got off at the Sandhill exit and found myself in the middle of Al Gore's motorcade to one of those private residence fund raisers. Evidently the offramp had been unblocked a moment too soon. Half a mile later I turned off onto the road home without having been forced off the road or tailed or visited by the secret service. I realized what was going on at the time, which made it a very strange experience.