Inauguration emergency plans incomplete

With President-elect Obama’s inauguration less than six
weeks away, federal and local officials have not finalized emergency evacuation
plans for the millions of people expected to be in Washington for the ceremony.

“We do not have the entire picture today,” said Malcolm
Wiley, a spokesman for the Secret Service. “The entire plan is not completed as
of yet.”

{mosads}Wiley met with more than a half-dozen local and federal
agencies and departments Thursday to discuss security and crowd control plans
for the Jan. 20 event on the National Mall. But much has yet to be decided.

“(We) are looking at: How do we get people out of town if
something happens?” said Wiley. “I believe one of our agency counterparts, the
D.C. Fire Department, is working on a mass evacuation plan. We’re still working
on that. We’ve got six weeks to go. But again, given that there are going to be
large numbers, we are retooling to make sure people are going to know how to
get out of town.”

The Secret Service is the agency in charge of planning
the security measures, but it is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police,
Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and U.S. Park Police, among 22
other federal and local agencies and departments.

About 4,000 police are coming to help the 4,000 sworn MPD
officers. Metro transit is exploring the possibility of other transit police
departments lending officers to help with the event.

While law enforcement personnel numbers are still
uncertain, Metro is sure that the number and frequency of trains will be
inadequate to handle the throngs expected to go to and from the Mall that
Tuesday.

“We’re not going to be able to carry 2 or 3 million people,”
said Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for Metro. “We figure that we can carry
approximately 120,000 people an hour max, on the rail system. That assumes
best-case scenario that at 4 a.m. (when the Metro starts service) there are
120,000 people lined up ready to come in.”

Though the Mall will be open the night before, tents will
not be allowed and people will be asked to leave and subject to arrest if they
attempt to camp over night.

The strictness of the security will differ from the
National Mall to the parade route to the Capitol. Authorities will be screening
everyone in the immediate area for firearms and alcohol, among other items.
They did not say what the security perimeter of the parade or the event will
be.

“You’ll go through some sort of screening process
anywhere you go for the inaugural area, and that’s going to vary depending on
where you are,” said Sgt. Robert LaChance, a spokesman for the U.S. Park
Police.

While the Mall will be open to the public and outfitted
with giant television screens and speakers, seating near the swearing-in
ceremony is limited to holders of the 240,000 free tickets.

The Secret Service has contacted the managers of
buildings along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route, but said it is not
requiring the names or Social Security numbers of people who reside in the
buildings, according to Wiley.

“That would be a mammoth task,” he said. “But that’s why
we have screening for people who are going to be in the building.”

While evacuation plans are still in the making, in the
event of an emergency, such as an explosion, the city is preparing a
notification system to tell people where to go and what to do.

“The city is looking at implementing a mass notification
system, which we intend to have in place by the inauguration, so that will
allow us to put a message out to people in public areas such as the Mall,” said
Jo’Ellen Countee, a spokeswoman for Washington, D.C.’s Homeland Security
Emergency Management Agency. “It would probably involve some sort of
loudspeaker installation.”