Let Me See Your War Face: A Note From The Demilitarized Zone
Posted on October 7, 2008 at 9:26 amWhat a difference a day makes. Yesterday, when I made the trek to the media tent here at Belmont University, the site of the second Presidential Debate, it was a relatively smooth process. Of course, I had to park at Greer stadium and be shuttled onto the fenced off-campus but the shuttle bus made the two to three block journey, rolled right on in and dropped us off exactly at the media tent.
Today, a little different. Only a short distance into the campus, we were met with a barricade manned with numerous secret service personnel and cops. After proceeding through the barricade we were met with another group of law enforcement personnel a few yards down the road. The bus stopped and what I can only assume was a bomb sniffing dog made a full sweep of the bus.
The shuttle then moved a few more feet down the road and dropped us off. This was quite a few yards away from the place the bus dropped us off yesterday. Upon disembarking, passengers were then shuffled through an area strongly reminiscent of a airport checkpoint.
The only difference: I got to keep my shoes on. Other than that. IDs were checked. Metal objects were removed from pockets. Bags were x-rayed. Although, I must say, security personnel were ever so nice. The Secret Service agent who checked my ID laughed at the picture embossed on my credential just as if we were old friends.
After that whole process, and only after that process, were passengers allowed to proceed to the media tent where I am right now.
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One Responses to “Let Me See Your War Face: A Note From The Demilitarized Zone”
Security in the post-9/11 world is indeed much different for those covering these events than it was in earlier election cycles. At the 1992 Presidential Debate in St. Louis, I parked my car near the Washington University campus a few hours before the debate, walked to a tent to pick up my non-photo credential, passed through a metal detector and took my seat in the hall for a debate that included the sitting President and two challengers. I’m not saying that process was better, though it was certainly easier. I’m sure the Secret Service were taking appropriate precautions then too, but it’s obviously very different from your experience today given the different atmosphere in which we now live.