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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Coast Guard promised a “thorough review” after a training incident Friday along the Potomac River briefly triggered concerns about the security of President Obama on the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“We are going to take a good, hard look at what we did here today and ensure that if we need to modify procedures, if we need to modify communications, we will do so in the future,” said Vice Adm. John Currier of the Coast Guard.
The exercise involved a Coast Guard vessel on the Potomac River apparently trying to stop a boat from getting past it. It took place near the Memorial Bridge, where the president’s motorcade was crossing after a 9/11 commemoration event at the Pentagon.
As part of the training, there were reports on police scanners saying that the Coast Guard fired 10 rounds of ammunition. Officials later explained that no shots had been fired, and the radio traffic is a standard part of the exercise.
When CNN called after those reports, the Coast Guard Command Center initially said it had no immediate information.
Later, Coast Guard officials said they were looking into the possibility that it may have been a training exercise.
When the Coast Guard came out with information that it had been a training exercise, officials said a training frequency was used for communication. Currier said the transmissions generally begin with an announcement that it is a training mission but said he did not know if that was done in this case.
Other agencies were not notified of the exercise in advance, including the U.S. Secret Service, which protects the president.
The Secret Service said Obama was back at the White House by the time reports surfaced of possible shots fired in the area.
Federal agency emergency operations centers were not aware of or notified about the exercise, and they began implementing response procedures, a federal source said.
Flights at Washington’s Reagan National Airport were grounded from 10:08 to 10:30 a.m. ET, said Diane Spitaliere of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Upon hearing media reports, the FBI dispatched agents who arrived at the water’s edge before learning from other law enforcement agencies that it was an exercise, said Supervisory Special Agent Katherine Schweit, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
The police department’s Harbor Patrol, which is responsible for patrolling the Potomac, was not notified, law enforcement sources in Washington said.
The patrol has now demanded the Coast Guard notify it in the future before any training exercises on the Potomac, the sources said.
Currier said that the exercise takes place four times a week and that other agencies are generally not informed.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, was among the first to come out with criticism.
“The anxiety caused by this situation on such a solemn day is extremely disturbing,” Voinovich said in a statement, adding that he would like to hear from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “It sounds very much like the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.”
Military Families United, an advocacy group for military families, called for an investigation. The incident was “at the height of irresponsibility,” the group said in a statement, adding that whoever commissioned the exercise “should be held accountable.”
“These families have traveled from all over the country to convene at the Pentagon on this tragic anniversary, and this training exercise not only caused unwarranted stress for these families but it was a distraction from the purpose of today ...,” the group said. “This kind of incompetence and insensitivity cannot be permissible and should be addressed at the highest levels of government.”
In a statement, the Coast Guard said, “The best way that we in the Coast Guard can remember September 11 and our security obligations to the nation is to be always ready, and this requires constant training and exercise. To ensure the appropriate readiness posture, we conduct training scenarios across the nation on a daily basis.”
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