The U.S. Secret Service has designated the state funeral of former President Gerald Ford a “National Special Security Event.”
The designation, usually reserved for presidential inaugurations, State of the Union speeches and other high-profile events in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, effectively puts the Secret Service in charge of security for the city while the funeral progresses.
“The goal of such an operation is to prevent terrorist attacks and criminal acts,” the Secret Service said in a news release.
The Secret Service already has “partnerships” with federal and local police agencies and will coordinate with those groups on everything from setting up fences to deploying dog units to protect dignitaries and other visitors to Ford’s funeral, the news release states.
Ford, 93, died Tuesday night at his home in California. His family is scheduled to hold a private memorial there today, then fly his body back to D.C. on Saturday, where it will lie in state until Tuesday. A public ceremony will be held at the National Cathedral on Tuesday, and then Ford’s body will be flown to Grand Rapids — where he grew up and served as a congressman — for burial.
There have been 23 National Special Security Events — most of them in Washington — since 1998, the Secret Service reported. The most recent was the 2006 State of the Union speech.
