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There has been a Republican outcry about the COST of the trip ever since some guy in India mentioned that the trip would cost about $200 Million A DAY in India…..
The White House denied that figure…
But this Dog will try to list some of the things that go with the President when he leaves the country on a state trip……
Air Force One……That’s the ride….
A second B-747-200 back up plane…..In case the one the President is traveling on has trouble….
Presidential Limo’s.…‘Stage Coach’…..For EACH stop there are 2 Limo’s or Suburban
SUV’s….Armored… that the POTUS (President) will travel in….
Update...An Air Force One replacement is in the works….See here.…
The Secret Service even has a bus to transport the President or Presidential candidates….Stagecoach One or Ground Force One
image…pinterest
Motorcade support Vehicles….
These vehicles, Black suburbans also travel with the President….
Secret Service ‘Back-Up’ Vehicle’s..’Half Back’…..These Suburban’s transport the President’s Security Detail…..
image…pinterest
White House Communication’s Vehiclee…..This SUV will be in the motorcade to help keep up contact with the US anywhere on the planet…
image…Pinerest
Secret Service Counter Assault Team…CAT…. SUV…’Hawk eye Renegate’…..Heavily Armed Firepower to protect the POTUS in addition to the Security Detail…
‘Watch Tower’ .…The Electric Counter Measures vehicle….Look for the numerous antenna’s
Hazmat Vehicle….A Marine Detail on hand to handle if there where a chemical assault on the POTUS group….
image …flickr
Intelligence Division Vehicle: The “ID Car”
The White House Communications Agency Vehicle: Code Name “Roadrunner”
White House Medical Team Vehicle……Usually a US Doctor from the WH Staff and Paramedic or Military Medic with their equipment…
image…dailymail.co.uk
Overwatch
When the President travels, the Secret Service gets access to a Department of Homeland Security helicopter that provides intelligence, planning and over-watch for presidential movements. Depending on where the President is headed, this mission can be executed using a Coast Guard, Border Patrol, US Customs or other federal government chopper…..
All of the above vehicles (about 8 to 10 ) are airlifted by Air Force C-17 Cargo planes to EACH stop the POTUS makes…..I assume that they can leap-frog a group of about 4 or 5 groups of vehicle’s to each stop…..
Police Escorts ….
Presidential motorcades are movents of a LOT of vehicles, they can amout to over 20 vehicles if you include escorts , the presidential package, staff vehicles, support staff, medical teams and media ….
The WHOLE movement ‘s responsibilty falls to the local or state police wherever the President goes anywhere on the planet…..
image of German Police escorting a Obama motorcade….Alamy
(Several motorcycle police officer have been hurt doing these escorts)
Helicopter’s…..
image..youtube
When needed…. the POTUS will travel by Marine One Helecopter’s…..He travels in one….But because his Security Detail, Staff and the Press Pool goes where he goes….When he does travel by Helo..there are 4 to 5 other helo’s that go with him….
As with the vehicle’s….They are transported by Air Force C-17 to EACH stop needed…
A look at the interior….Here..…
Update 9/1/14….
The Marine Helo drivers in HMX-1 now have new Helicopter to transport support staff and media….NOT the President….The Boeing MV-22 Osprey Tilt-rotor....The Marines are asking Congress for 5 more VH-92A’s to replace the V22B’s which are fast, but whose rotors are so big that they have created rotor wash issues for the HMX-1 operation’s…
Staff….At each stop months in advance White House Staff check and negotiate the best place for the POTUS to appear…..Also in those advance party’s are Secret Service Team’s that handle the security workups once the White House staff decide the venue….
State Department staff in-country will welcome the advance teams and work with them and the host country….
Press.….When a US President travel’s …The largest group traveling with him is the media…..
For Obama’s trip there is no doubt at least two ‘Official Pres Planes’…..These journalist are in addition to the White House Press Pool…..The WH Press Pool travel with the President …..by Presidential Motorcade and even in one of the Marine One Helo group….
Sleep Over’s…..When the President sleep’s over it’s a big thing…..
There must be a security ‘lock down’ of the hotel in a most area’s and the POTUS will stay in a embassy or US military facility in area’s where the Secret Service and State Department don’t feel comfortable with the local Hotel’s….
Before a POTUS arives…The Hotel is swept by flown in EOD/Explosive Ordonnance Detail’s and then secured by separate groups of Secret Service, State and borrowed Federal Special Agents and other agencies people like Border Patrol….
All of the on site people are flown in for EACH stop in advance…..And have to have somewhere to stay …
Other Military Assets…..
It is not unreasonable to assume that the US military does in fact ‘adjust to the movements of its Commander-in- Chief….
While there was unsubstantiated reports of 40 US Navy ships involved in the President’s trip……It is not hard to in vision the nearest US Carrier Battle group moving to with 200 or miles of where the POTUS would be ‘just in case’….
Special worries.…..India has seen a big political assignation about 5 years ago…..Indonesia is the largest Muslim country outside the Middle East…..These are special worries for the Secret Service outside their regular ones……
The list I provided above will be heavy over augmented in the two above countries…..
Note.….All of the above mentioned costs money….LOTS of money……
$200 Million a Day?…….No…..But the figure is up there……
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The US President is the ONLY President that travel’s this deep….The Russian’s come close bringing their own vehicles….But most countries send their President’s or Prime Minister’s with a small Security Detail on their own planes and rely on the Host counties vehicle’s and security and police assistance……That’s not to say that the US POTUS doesn’t either….Once he leaves the Continental US ….The American President is a HOST of another country…He and his staff must work with the host country for their trip…there have been numerous incidences of US Secret Service agents getting into trouble with host countries security people….
The only thing that keeps these things civil….. is the fact that ALL of the Heads of state travel to The UN and America…so their people are mindful of ‘what goes around….comes around”….
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For those of you concerned about this ‘Great Traveling Show”…..
Is it TOOOOOO MUCH?
Yes…. Indeed it is…
What it becomes is ‘One upsmanship at its worst’
But ever since 9/11, The Munbai bombing and the Bhutto assignation….
Security procedures have tighten in the area’s Obama will be traveling in ….
Remember this…
NOBODY wants to see another counties Head of State get hurt on their watch..in their City or Country….
They ain’t thinking about the money….
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If you want to learn more about the Secret Service check the links below….
in-the-presidents-secret-service-a-book-review
does-the-secret-service-have-too-much-on-its-plate
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Note….I forgot something important!
FLOTUS(First Lady of the US ) is traveling with her man!
We have an addition to do…..
For EVER stop the President makes that he has to do business…The First Lady of the United States will have a SEPERATE function to go to…..With HER own Transportation, Detail, Press and Support staff….
image ….dailymail.uk.co
Limo’s.…..The FLOTUS will travel in a armored Suburban SUV…..
Protective Detail…..The FLOTUS has her own detail that flys in Air Force One……When the President is traveling with his wife, HER detail gets slotted into the motorcade and gets put a Marine Helo…..
If she goes on a separate trip while her husband is working …..That trip must be advanced……
The site….The place she going to has to have agents in place and be checked out before she gets there….
In the countries on this trip I wouldn’t be surprised if she get’s here own CAT team…..
Oh, yea…..She gets a separate C-17 transporting HER vehicles……
You can see the trip just KEEPS getting
Bigger….
and Bigger…..
Update …..Here’s an Updated breakdown of a typical Presidential Motorcade from Marc Ambinders 2/11 Piece on the Secret Service at the UN General Assembly in NYC….
Update…..Presidental Limo’s….Suburban’s …..and yes Lady’s and gentlemen……
The Updates Limo (The Beast)……
image…HT Auto-Hindustan Times
The Presidential Suburban…..
While all the hoopla has been made over the ‘Beast’ ….The fact is sometimes the 44th President of the United State travels in an amoured Chevy Subrban which is simular to the
ones the Detail, The control and CAT teams travel in….Except it’s the President’s vehicle…
And now we have a Presidential Bus folks…
Updated…Stagecoach One Ground Force One the undated one…
image…chinlandmagazines.com
Update…..6/2012….
A five minute video on President Obama’s trip to NYC in June 2012…Here…
A look at traveling aboard Air Force One from a young journalist….Here
Update…..8/8/13….
More Air Force One photo’s….Here…..
You’ll notice if you look carfully that the pictures include President Obama traveling in the Boeing 747 AND the smaller single aisle Boeing 757….
Reminder…..ANY Air Force aircraft that the President travel’s in is assigned the call sign Air Force One for air traffic controllers information….And that includes the B-757 and the G-550 used to get the President into smaller field locations…..President Bush 43 flew onto a carrier in Navy One (S-3 Viking a two engine cargo transport jet) and President Obama flew into Afghanistan on Army One a (Ch-47 Chinook).….
Update ….11/10/13….
The New York Times is out with a piece that illustrates how the President of the United States travels with a ‘secure tent’ to cut out other countries doing what we do….
Listen in…..
‘Even when Mr. Obama travels to allied nations, aides quickly set up the security tent — which has opaque sides and noise-making devices inside — in a room near his hotel suite. When the president needs to read a classified document or have a sensitive conversation, he ducks into the tent to shield himself from secret video cameras and listening devices….’
Update ….1/5/14….
When ever the President of the United States leaves the continental US (that incudes goig to the state of Hawaii)…A US Air Force E-4B is deployed to airfield within several hundred miles of Air Force One…..
Update….4/13/14……
Here’s a piece on the Press Poll traveling to New York with the President April 11, 2014….
Air Traffic Control…..
When the President moves around the country a whole security cape travels with him….
We’ve described it above….
But there is also a part of it handled by air traffic controllers who handle a 30 mile circle security NO -Fly Zone above any spot the President is in , be it in Air Force One, Stage Coach One or talking walk….
The enforcement of that No Fly Zone is done by Air Force fighter jets……
Bust the inner zone any you WILL get a serious vist from an armed F-16 most likely and reception on the ground….Aircraft cleared thru the No-Fly Zone will be sreened by the TSA…
Update …1/23/15…..
A year of President Obama’s travel, mapped….Here....
Update ….5/8/15…..
President Obama has traveled to ALL 50 state’s as of this date (He’s the fourth to do so)….Here….
Update…4/22/16….
It appears that British Prince Phillip (93) is about the ONLY person to actually drive a vehicle that the American President and First Lady have traveled in beside’s an American Secret Service vehicle…The Prince did the driving (In a British Land Rover) on his property @ at Kensington Palace during the Obama’s visit there in today ….
Update…. 10/30/16…..
Our post on President Obama’s trip from Wash DC to Chicago to Palm Beach , Florida…. it’s cost and what equipment made the trip…..Here…
Update….2/16/17……
A look at the President Donald Trump’s expenses and the fact that his children are now receiving details that go with them around the world for Trump business ….Here.…
Update…..3/14/17…..
Excellent Update piece on Air Forec One and Marine One programs progress in the early Trump Admin….
Update……5/2/17
Piece on the E-4’s, B-757 and Gulfstream Air Force jets that can accompany a Presidential travel mission…Also a reveal on a ‘secret’ location used to house the President if an emergency situation would to occur in the nation’s capital and how he would get there…
Update….7/15/18
In a repeat of something that was done for President Obama in 2015….Donald Trump arrived at Windsor Castle in England in a British armored Land Rover, with the First Lady….American President’s NEVER ride in anything but American driven and controlled vehicles….
Update….6/19/19….
There is a effort by Donald Trump to redesign the color markings on the new two aircraft being readied to serve…The B-747’s, originally brought by a Russian airline, and now being converted , won’t be ready until 2023/2024…The House has added a amendment to funding for the plane’s that will continue the present paint markings….
A new piece on Air Force One twin planes and their operation…
…..
Surprise Gifts, Security Details and Secret Smoke Breaks: The Art of Planning a Presidential Summit
A former White House chief of protocol on how to choreograph every detail of a high-stakes diplomatic meeting—and all the things that can go wrong….
Update ….2/20/23….
President Joe Biden breaks the old….
His trip to the Ukraine on this date was VERY Different….
The President and only 3 WH staff members, 2 press people, and small Secret Service and medical Detail….
It’s not reported, but I believe there HAD to be additional communications personnel and back up extraction assets’s to keep a real time link with the President….(The ‘nuclear football’ did go with Biden it is reported)…
If there was none?
Then VP Harris would have her ‘nuclear football’ as the primary…..
In addition it HAS been reported that a E-3 AWACS and RC-135 listening aircrat were listening fo0r anything unusual from the Russians on the Polish/Ukraine border, and one would assume a E-4 B-747, traveling command post airborne aircraft was securely linked to Biden in real time somewhere over Poland also….
Biden likes traveling by train and THAT probably appealed to him in joining the method ALL of the other Western heads of state used to visit Kyiv….
One can assume if they actually wanted to fly him in?
THAT could have been done one can be sure….
Update….Sring 2023….
Ex-American President’s traveling abroad and their security details travel in the host countries supplied vehicle and get security coverage sometime’s equal to a in office Sec of State…..
President Trump was supposed to make this trip to Iceland, But after his idea to ‘buy’ Greenland went south on him?…He sent someone else….
He didn’t….
Instead Vice President Mike Pence made the visit….
The security foot print is smaller for a VP visit…
But?
It amazed the people in Iceland…
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s arrival in Iceland with military jets and armed personnel set eyes popping Wednesday in a nation consistently ranked as the world’s most peaceful.
The size and standards of the vice president’s security detail also required adjustments. The guards protecting Pence got backup from a police force that only allows elite “Viking SWAT” members carry guns.
Icelandic authorities gave U.S. personnel special permission to carry firearms. Bomb-sniffing dogs were cleared to enter the country because of a strict quarantine for imported animals.
Pence is the first U.S. vice president to visit Iceland, a country of just 350,000 people, since George H.W. Bush came to Reykjavik in 1983.
The Reykjavik Metropolitan Police requested backup from police stations in neighboring towns and villages to meet U.S. manpower standards….
More….
Another post on the security ‘bubble’ for Vice President Pence’s travel…
Vice President Mike Pence arrived at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in an eight-vehicle motorcade Saturday, prompting cries of “sacrilege” on social media.
Cars are generally banned on the island, and that century-old ban is integral to its charm.
When President Gerald Ford visited the island in 1975 — the only sitting president to make such a visit — he and first lady Betty Ford traveled by horse-drawn carriage.
Pence, who spoke at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, is the first sitting vice president to visit the island. He traveled to and from the airport with a cluster of monster SUVs shipped to the island Friday night.
It was the first-ever motorcade on Mackinac …
More….
Covid-19 Update….
The Service personnel are taking a ‘virus’ hit for the President…
In the past two months, dozens of Secret Service agents who worked to ensure the security of the president and Vice President Pence at public events have been sickened or sidelined because they were in direct contact with infected people, according to multiple people familiar with the episodes, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the incidents.
Despite that, Trump has continued to hold large gatherings — most dramatically at the White House on Thursday night, when he delivered his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention before a crowd of 1,500 people seated closely together on the South Lawn, with few masks in sight. The vast majority were not tested for the coronavirus ahead of time.
Few masks, little distancing: Trump celebrates at crowded White House party largely devoid of coronavirus precautions
Trump’s actions rebuff the scientific consensus that the best way to tamp down the spread of the virus is to avoid large gatherings and close quarters. Critics say his refusal to abide by those guidelines is imposing unnecessary risks on Secret Service staffers, who have no choice in whether to accompany the president….
More…
This a piece on the advance work for President Biden to visit Nantucket, Mass…..
Nantucketers are used to Joe Biden and his family visiting the island for Thanksgiving. But that was when he was vice president. The level of preparation in advance of his first arrival as president today has been taken to a whole different level.
Security measures ramped up significantly this weekend in advance of Biden’s arrival Tuesday for his family’s annual holiday visit to the island….
More…
Here’s a video of President Biden’s trip to the G-7 Summit in England in 2021….