Anatomy of a Presidential Motorcade

Our friend Eddie Codel is in Washington DC this week to watch the Obama inauguration festivities that will begin on January 20. But as a preview, he happened to catch a presidential motorcade yesterday as it was streaming through town. 

What's the composition of a presidential motorcade?  It entails dozens of vehicles, in a very specific configuration. The Wikipedia sayeth:

A police presence precedes the beginning of the presidential motorcade. These cars and motorcycles usually drive ahead to clear the way and block traffic.

The motorcade for the president is made up of two parts, the first being the "secure package." In the event of an emergency, the secure package breaks off from the rest of the group. It includes two limousines, is heavily guarded by local law enforcement and Secret Service, and all cars are driven by professional drivers.

The second part is made up of vans that transport White House staff members and selected members of the press. In the rear is a communications van that records the president's movements, an ambulance, and additional police vehicles.

To see how all those disparate elements come together, take a look at this tidy video of the presidential motorcade that Eddie shot from his curbside vantage point:

PREVIOUSLY:
Is This Obama's New Presidential Limo?

(Image, top, Chris Christner via Wikipedia)

Comments

[fsharp]

I dig the motorcycle side car.
What agency do the guys in the cycling bumble bee outfits belong to?

[MostEmailedNews.com]

What you can't see in that photo is that there are dudes with machine guns in the back of the suv's. Was crossing the street here in NYC a few years ago when Cheney's motorcade went by and I was trying to jaywalk behind and secret service dudes in the open back of SUV aimed there guns at me, that'll teach me not to jaywalk.

- T

http://mostemailednews.com

[Maggie Darwin]

Fsharp: Aren't they The Monarch's henchmen?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/-21%2B24.jpg

[Dave]

maybe if he just took a taxi no one would notice and that would be safer than a big
"here he is" sort of show??..

[Chuck Rampart]

Several friends worked with the Bush 1 campaign way back when and actually drove vehicles with press (Britt Hume, etc) in a motorcade. They noted that one van has a video camera on the Presidents vehicle at all times - called "Deathwatch One" - in order to document all movements in case of problems. They saw one of the black sport utes push a lady's cadillac into the median on the interstate when she (somehow) got around a roadblock.

[newport driving school.]

I most certainly enjoyed reading this post.Awesome photos.It was a very informative.

[zz]

@Dave:

Yes, that's exactly what I thought the other day. If he traveled in a plain looking sedan, with a couple of vans that could be changed to look like different utility or delivery vans from time to time.

Not nearly as "sexy" I know, but the whole pomp and circumstance is really stupid if you're actually trying to protect the guy. As the govt. agents themselves say, as soon as he steps out of the megacar, there's very little thay can do, so they would prefer that he just stay inside it.

[Sue]

That is pretty amazing, thanks for sharing the video footage too, I am really enjoying this blog, its just filled with a little bit of everything.

[Susan Trade Ins]

One doesn't get to see a Presidential motorcade every day, so to see this was really great, and interesting to see just how it all works.

[martin]

When he was in Ottawa, the streets he took from the airport to the Hill were closed for an hour, a lightly armoured vehicle with a give or take 30mm gun followed and a helicopter followed sideways, always pointing at the limo, with two machine guns hangingon both sides, swivel style. I saw the barrell pointed at me from 150ft up. They moved the gun from person to person....