Red Alert! Where's the Captain?

Here's the transcript of McClellan's mid-day press briefing.

McClellan sent out an update later in the day, but it's worth noting that he initially suggested that the president had been informed right away -- a reasonable assumption.

"He was informed by his detail; the detail that was with the President was notified and informed the President at that point. Mrs. Bush, as well as Mrs. Reagan, who is in town, were here at the White House and they were taken to a secure location. The Vice President was evacuated and has since returned to the White House," McClellan said.

And again: "[T]he President was at an off-site location, and he was informed, and he was informed of the situation that occurred. And obviously, there are protocols in place for that, as well. But the President was being kept well-informed of the situation that was going on."

Eric Lipton and Richard W. Stevenson write in the New York Times that Bush was riding around the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., about a half-hour's drive from the White House. His Secret Service detail was "following him on bicycles and in vehicles as he got some midday exercise after returning the previous night from a five-day trip to Russia, Latvia, Georgia and the Netherlands."

McClellan said the members of the security detail didn't consult with Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, or other senior administration officials, either.

"Mr. Bush does not usually leave the White House to exercise during the week, though he often goes to government complexes in the Washington area on weekends with his mountain bike, his preferred form of exercise after a bad knee ended his practice of regular running.

"On Wednesday, though, he had a relatively light schedule after his return Tuesday night from Europe, and he left the White House shortly after 11 a.m. for the wildlife center. He arrived at 11:34, according to the pool report, 25 minutes before the White House began ratcheting up its internal threat level."

The Press Corps Experience

It's also worth asking if the protocols, whatever they are, were actually being followed. Because judging from what little the press corps was able to experience first-hand yesterday, maybe they're not. It's a minor point in the greater scheme of things, but alarms in the press grotto beyond the White House briefing room that were supposed to go off stayed silent yesterday.

From the mid-day briefing:

"Q Scott, why did the -- why didn't the internal emergency notification system go off here in the White House?