In the hours before President Barack Obama arrived at a Johannesburg soccer stadium to honour Nelson Mandela, the White House staff was in the dark on key details. Where would the president and Michelle Obama sit? When was Obama supposed to speak? Who else would be on stage when he did?
The result was an array of confusion and security risks that typically would not be tolerated by the Secret Service in the United States, underscoring how the agency is often at the mercy of foreign governments to make arrangements when the president travels overseas.
While there were metal detectors and x-ray machines at the stadium, they were not used on the initial crowds streaming in for the ceremony, according to Associated Press reporters on scene. Many people walked through with little or no screening. Inside the massive stadium there were few signs of the heavy security that routinely would accompany an event with the president and other world leaders.
The VIP section where Obama and dozens of other dignitaries sat, including former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, was protected by a short pane of protective glass that covered only those sitting in the first row of seats. Obama and his wife were seated several rows back. Large crowds were allowed to gather in front of where Obama sat, with no visible security nearby.
And when Obama made his way to the stage to deliver his speech, the South African sign-language interpreter who stood an arm's length away was a schizophrenic prone to violence. The interpreter has since been derided as a fraud and allegedly has a criminal background.
Secret Service officials say the South African government was responsible for the decision to place interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie just inches from some of the most powerful people in the world during a four-hour memorial service.
"Program items such as stage participants or sign-language interpreters were the responsibility of the host organizing committee," said Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan. "For the purposes of this memorial service, this would include vetting them for criminal history and other appropriate records checks."
Brian Dube, a spokesman for the Ministry of State Security, declined to answer questions today about what security measures were in place at the soccer stadium and what sort of background checks and screening were performed on Jantjie. Dube said those issues are part of the investigation into the hiring and use of the bogus interpreter, and he did not know when the investigation would be concluded.
