Quote:
Originally Posted by dark star  Quote - they no longer serve a security function. Since when would knowledge of the code name of a high elected official and his/her family to the general public not constitute a potential security risk? |
If the code names are not used for security reasons, public knowledge would not constitute a security risk. For example, if the code names are only used for convenience.
The Washington Post also published an article about code names on its website (
link). That article quotes the former Secret Service agent in charge of Vice-president Al Gore's security as saying:
Quote:
These days, though, the code names have little to do with actual safety; instead they play a more ceremonial and logistical role, letting agents bark easily understood directions into their sleeves as a protectee is moving from location to location. "There's really no secrecy to it," said security expert William H. Pickle, who was the special agent in charge of Gore's detail. According to Pickle, the names were useful when radio and phone communications were unsecured and easily picked up by outsiders; now the military and Secret Service can communicate over highly secured lines, making a code name irrelevant. Still, habit lives on.
"It started out years ago as a security function, and it had a real security aspect. Communications were limited, and it caused enough confusion to allow you to have a movement without people understanding," Pickle said. "Anymore, though? It's really just for convenience -- and tradition."
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This (
link) is an interesting webpage, operated by "The Hacker Quarterly"
... it appears to list Secret Service codenames for all sorts of folks: Hmmm. Looks like Prince Charles' codename is "Unicorn". I wonder what Camilla's is?
Talking about it being "tradition" got me to wondering how long the US Secret Service has been in existence. I presume that George Washington would not have been accompanied by a detail of Secret Service agents wherever he went.
The wikipedia article (
link) indicates that it was created in 1865, which would have been right after President Lincoln was assassinated. However, that apparently was just a coincidence, since the original purpose was not to protect the president. It was only in 1901, after McKinley was assassinated, that they finally figured out maybe there was a trend going on, and they should begin providing security for the president, via the Secret Service Presidential Protective Detail
10-11-2008
Re: President Barack Obama 
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