Here we go back to our thin (very, very skinny) piggy bank again. Major resources will be needed for Obama’s trip to sub-Saharan Africa. By the estimate of the White House itself, the price tag for the trip couldl lclock in at as much as $100 million. The Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig got access to classified documents outlining the trip. Update: The White House has cancelled the safari for this trip. Whew! Hundreds of U.S. Secret Service agents will be dispatched to secure facilities in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. A Navy aircraft carrier or amphibious ship, with a fully staffed medical trauma center, will be stationed offshore in case of an emergency. Military cargo planes will airlift in 56 support vehicles, including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bullet¬proof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay. Fighter jets will fly in shifts, giving 24-hour coverage over the president’s airspace, so they can intervene quickly if an errant plane gets too close. Any journey by a president, such as one scheduled this week for Northern Ireland and Germany, is an immense and costly logistical challenge. But the trip to Africa is complicated by a confluence of factors that could make it one of the most expensive of Obama’s tenure, according to people familiar with the planning.The Obama’s are making back-to-back stops from June 26 to July 3 in three countries where U.S. officials are providing nearly all the resources, rather than depending heavily on local police forces, military authorities or hospitals for assistance.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:42:31 +0000
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