Photo by PoPville flickr user thisisbossi
From a press release:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today wrote to Secret Service Director Julia Pierson requesting an immediate meeting following the organizational breakdown at yesterday’s 50th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington on the National Mall. A security checkpoint backup at the general public entrance resulted in many marchers unable to enter the event and long lines in the heat and rain, with reported hospitalizations. Though the area is generally under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service (NPS), Norton was informed that due to the nature of the event, the Secret Service was tasked with security operations and was therefore responsible for the “the massive failure to organize, prepare and coordinate to receive visitors at yesterday’s 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington,” as she wrote in her letter.
Norton, in her letter, continued, “The congestion at the security check point at the general public entrance to the event caused huge lines and wait times, which left visitors, many of them elderly, frustrated and even ill and overcome by the heat and rain…Because I meet with the Secret Service and other agencies on planning for inaugurations, I am well aware of the standards for effectively controlling large crowds, which your agency is capable of meeting. I am, therefore, very disappointed that you failed to prevent an organizational breakdown that was entirely unnecessary.”
The full text of Norton’s letter follows. (more…)
