Inside the Ring

Inauguration threats

U.S. officials say security will be heightened for President Bush’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Intelligence officials say the main worry is that terrorists will attack with car bombs or other homemade explosives.

“There’s no specific intelligence of a terrorist threat to the inauguration,” one official said.

But the threat from what officials call “IEDs,” or improvised explosive devices, and “VBIEDs” or vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, is a security danger, primarily along the presidential parade route from the Capitol to the White House.

“It’s a proven method of attack, as we’ve seen in Iraq,” the official said.

Mr. Bush will travel by motorcade, or possibly on foot, after the swearing in and speech on the Capitol steps. The route normally goes down Pennsylvania Avenue and around the block to the White House.

Security measures will include special electronic-jamming equipment that could disrupt remote-control electronic signals that might be sent to a bomb planted along the route.

Vehicle traffic and parking also will be strictly monitored and limited along and near the parade route, to preclude a car-bomb attack.

Question questioned

Some conservatives are questioning the accuracy of a reporter-fed question to a soldier during Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s town hall meeting with the troops Dec. 8 in Kuwait.

Here is what the soldier asked:

“Our soldiers have been fighting in Iraq for coming up on three years. A lot of us are getting ready to move north relatively soon. Our vehicles are not armored. We’re digging pieces of rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that’s already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best out of this scrap to put on our vehicles to take into combat. We do not have proper armament vehicles to carry with us north.”

Here is how Army Maj. Gen. Stephen Speakes described the actual condition of the 278th Regimental Combat team a week later at a Pentagon press conference.

Reporter: At the time the question was asked, the planted question, the unit had 784 of its 804 vehicles armored?

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