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DHS: SOTU Will Be "National Special Security Event"; Tom Clancy Conspiracy Theorists Unsurprised

From a Homeland Security press release dated today:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has designated the President's State of the Union Address as a National Special Security Event (NSSE).
...
A number of factors are taken into consideration when designating an event as a National Special Security Event, including anticipated attendance by dignitaries and the size and significance of the event. When an event is designated a NSSE, the U.S. Secret Service assumes its legally mandated role as the lead federal agency for the design and implementation of the operational security plan. Federal resources will be deployed to maintain the level of security needed for the event.

It's not actually all that notable that this year's address will be tagged an NSSE.  It'll be the fourth consecutive State of the Union to be so designated.  What is notable is how relatively rare such events are.  There have only been 24 (5 of which were Super Bowls) since the designation was created by Presidential directive by Clinton in 1998 - fewer than 3 such events per year.

The Secret Service is tight-lipped about what the added security specifically entails, but indicates there is a "tremendous amount of advance planning and coordination" calling on "a number of our specialized units..."

Giving the SOTU the special treatment seems wise, upon contemplation of the Debt of Honor scenario (the Tom Clancy novel in which a 747 crashes into the Capitol during a joint session of Congress with the President in attendance), but I wonder why they only started doing so in 2004.

After all, the Super Bowl has gotten the works since 2002, which of course makes sense, as that was the year The Sum of All Fears (the Tom Clancy novel in which terrorists detonate a nuke at the Super Bowl) was made into a movie.

But 2004?  Clancy didn't publish any spookily plausible works that year.

The spontaneous creation of the NSSE designation by the vaguely terror-conscious President Clinton in 1998 is of course traceable to that year's publication of Rainbox Six (the Tom Clancy novel and video game in which terrorists target the Sydney Olympics).  The following Olympic games, held in Salt Lake City in 2002, were duly deemed an NSSE.

A couple decades ago, Dan Quayle took some flak for saying on the Senate floor that Tom Clancy's books are "...not just novels.  They're read as the real thing."  Quayle was referring to Red Storm Rising, and specifically to the book positing the importance of anti-satellite missile technology in winning World War III.

In tomorrow's State of the Union, China's successful test of anti-satellite missile technology may well be on the agenda.

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DHS: SOTU Will Be "National Special Security Event"; Tom Clancy Conspiracy Theorists Unsurprised

From a Homeland Security press release dated today:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has designated the President's State of the Union Address as a National Special Security Event (NSSE).
...
A number of factors are taken into consideration when designating an event as a National Special Security Event, including anticipated attendance by dignitaries and the size and significance of the event. When an event is designated a NSSE, the U.S. Secret Service assumes its legally mandated role as the lead federal agency for the design and implementation of the operational security plan. Federal resources will be deployed to maintain the level of security needed for the event.

It's not actually all that notable that this year's address will be tagged an NSSE.  It'll be the fourth consecutive State of the Union to be so designated.  What is notable is how relatively rare such events are.  There have only been 24 (5 of which were Super Bowls) since the designation was created by Presidential directive by Clinton in 1998 - fewer than 3 such events per year.

The Secret Service is tight-lipped about what the added security specifically entails, but indicates there is a "tremendous amount of advance planning and coordination" calling on "a number of our specialized units..."

Giving the SOTU the special treatment seems wise, upon contemplation of the Debt of Honor scenario (the Tom Clancy novel in which a 747 crashes into the Capitol during a joint session of Congress with the President in attendance), but I wonder why they only started doing so in 2004.

After all, the Super Bowl has gotten the works since 2002, which of course makes sense, as that was the year The Sum of All Fears (the Tom Clancy novel in which terrorists detonate a nuke at the Super Bowl) was made into a movie.

But 2004?  Clancy didn't publish any spookily plausible works that year.

The spontaneous creation of the NSSE designation by the vaguely terror-conscious President Clinton in 1998 is of course traceable to that year's publication of Rainbox Six (the Tom Clancy novel and video game in which terrorists target the Sydney Olympics).  The following Olympic games, held in Salt Lake City in 2002, were duly deemed an NSSE.

A couple decades ago, Dan Quayle took some flak for saying on the Senate floor that Tom Clancy's books are "...not just novels.  They're read as the real thing."  Quayle was referring to Red Storm Rising, and specifically to the book positing the importance of anti-satellite missile technology in winning World War III.

In tomorrow's State of the Union, China's successful test of anti-satellite missile technology may well be on the agenda.