Security In The Nations Capital And The Closure Of Pennsylvania Avenue An Assessment

An assessment of possible ways in which Pennsylvania Avenue could have been reopened without compromising the safety and security of the President prior to September 11. The context and circumstances that influenced the 1995 decision to close the section of Pennsylvania Avenue directly in front of the White House are examined, along with that decision's continued validity and appropriateness in light of developments, including trends in terrorism, since 1995.

Acts of terrorism are not a new threat to Washington, D.C. Over the last two centuries, there have been several organized terrorist attacks, as well as numerous assaults by unstable individuals acting alone, that have targeted the White House and U.S. Capitol building and the President or U.S. Congressmen within the city limits of the District of Columbia. It was not, however, until the 1980s that such incidents evoked heightened security around the White House, initiating a process of fortification that culminated with President Clinton's decision in April 1995 to close the section of Pennsylvania Avenue running in front of the Mansion. The research reported here considers how Pennsylvania Avenue can be re-opened while still ensuring to the greatest extent possible the safety and security of the President of the United States. The study was conducted as part of a project entitled, "Assessment of Physical Security Measures," within RAND's Criminal Justice Research Program. This work is being carried out as part of a larger undertaking by the Federal City Council a nonprofit, nonpartisan, Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the improvement of the Nation's Capital aimed at reassessing and reconsidering the physical security measures that have been imposed on the District of Columbia in recent years. This document is a revised version of a previous draft that was reviewed by the client. It is currently being reviewed internally as part of RAND's quality assurance process and will shortly be published in final form as a Monograph Report (MR).

Since the birth of our nation and the election of the first president, groups of organized plotters or individuals have been determined to assassinate the chief executive. From the Founding Fathers to the Great Depression, three presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley. However, unknown to the general public, almost all presidents have been threatened, put in danger, or survived "near lethal approaches" during their terms. Plotting to Kill the President reveals the numerous, previously untold incidents when assassins, plotters, and individuals have threatened the lives of American presidents, from George Washington to Herbert Hoover. Mel Ayton has uncovered these episodes, including an attempt to assassinate President Hayes during his inauguration ceremony, an attempt to shoot Benjamin Harrison on the streets of Washington, an assassination attempt on President Roosevelt at the White House, and many other incidents that have never been reported or have been covered up. Ayton also recounts the stories of Secret Service agents and bodyguards from each administration who put their lives in danger to protect the commander in chief. Plotting to Kill the President demonstrates the unsettling truth that even while the nation sleeps, those who would kill the president are often hard at work devising new schemes.

In American history, four U.S. Presidents have been murdered at the hands of an assassin. In each case the assassinations changed the course of American history. But most historians have overlooked or downplayed the many threats modern presidents have faced, and survived. Author Mel Ayton sets the record straight in his new book Hunting the President: Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts—From FDR to Obama, telling the sensational story of largely forgotten—or never-before revealed—malicious attempts to slay America’s leaders. Supported by court records, newspaper archives, government reports, FBI files, and transcripts of interviews from presidential libraries, Hunting the President reveals: How an armed, would-be assassin stalked President Roosevelt and spent ten days waiting across the street from the White House for his chance to shoot him How the Secret Service foiled a plot by a Cuban immigrant who told coworkers he was going to shoot LBJ from a window overlooking the president’s motorcade route How a deranged man broke into Reagan’s California home and attempted to strangle the former president before he was subdued by Secret Service agents. In early 1992 a mentally deranged man stalking Bush turned up at the wrong presidential venue for his planned assassination attempt The relationships presidents held with their protectors and the effect it had on the Secret Service’s mission Hunting the President opens the vault of stories about how many of our recent Presidents have come within a hair’s breadth of assassination, leaving America’s fate in the balance. Most of these stories have remained buried—until now.

Given that the war on terror is currently being fought the way crime typically is—after the fact—this country cannot protect its citizens from future terrorist events solely in this way. Instead, measures must be taken to actually stop terrorists before they can attack. Here, the authors argue that government anti-terrorism policy must pay much more attention to reducing opportunities for terrorist attacks by protecting vulnerable targets, controlling the tools and weapons used by terrorists, and removing the conditions of everyday life that make these attacks possible. While some of this work is being done on an ad hoc basis, there are no recognized methods to guide the work, there is limited experience on which to draw, and the government has no trained professionals to oversee the work. In this book, the authors address these deficiencies, and lay out a systematic approach for reducing opportunities for terrorism. The current take-them-out mindset may be the main reason why reducing opportunities for terrorism has been so neglected by governments, but another important reason is that the task seems so overwhelmingly difficult. How can we possibly protect every vulnerable target or person? How can we control all the everyday tools that terrorists must use in carrying out their attacks? How can we control their weapons when we cannot even keep guns out the hands of ordinary criminals? In this book, the authors show that these tasks are indeed manageable. They take readers through the methods for preventing terrorism and the policies that will assist in this important work. They show that in order to protect the country from terrorists, security forces must do what the terrorists do: identify vulnerable targets, analyze their specific weaknesses, consider the tools and weapons needed to attack, and assess access to the targets. Once these steps are taken, security agencies can then provide appropriate protection, limit accessibility, anticipate the forces needed to combat a potential attack, and plan carefully for an attack if it does occur. By outsmarting the terrorists security forces undertake the same analysis of vulnerabilities and opportunities that terrorists themselves undertake in planning their operations, and can more effectively defeat them before they strike. This books shows how this approach works and can succeed.