# White House Press Room Evacuated - somebody covered the cameras to shut off press access. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145 "2015-06-10T05:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/1 "2015-06-10T05:00:04Z")
Washington Post is covering this developing story. I find the mindset quite disturbing. Bomb scare, evacuate now! But first!!! Cover the cameras so there is no public record of what occurs. The White House Press Corps reporters aren’t even convinced there was a bomb threat. No one else in the White House got evacuated. WTH is going on? Manipulating the entire White House press pool just to get them out of the way? This is just wrong. Its a serious breach of the public’s right to know what their government is doing. They are there to represent all of us. Observe and report on the White House activities. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/06/09/abc-news-alleges-camera-tampering-during-evacuation-of-white-house-briefing-room/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/06/09/abc-news-alleges-camera-tampering-during-evacuation-of-white-house-briefing-room/) > [@](#): > > A press briefing today with White House press secretary Josh Earnest was interrupted shortly before 2 p.m. by a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the briefing room. Reporters and photographers filed out, only to return around 2:45 p.m. after the Secret Service had swept the room. > > Once White House reporters were back in their seats, the questions to Earnest about evacuation protocol began. Jonathan Karl of ABC News had a very pointed question/allegation: “Hey Josh … who covered up the cameras in this room? ‘Cause the cameras were covered up or pointed down. These were cameras that are owned by news organizations. I’m just wondering, we were all escorted out so there wasn’t anybody with our news organizations, but somebody cut off our ability to see what was going on in this room by turning the cameras down. Who did that and why?” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/2 "2015-06-10T05:10:24Z")
CNN’s story is a few hours more recent. > **[Pair of threats close parts of White House, Congress hearing | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/politics/hearing-evacuated-bomb-threat-tsa/)** > > A series of security threats closed portions of the White House and Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Come on. Footage of bomb squads responding to a threat has been shown many times on the news. The guy in the bomb suit, the remote control robot that takes video and can even open the package, the bomb truck that can detonate the bomb safely. . That’s all been filmed and reported many times.There’s a genuine bomb threat and our President and his family aren’t evacuated? > [@](#): > > Secret Service officers covered up the press cameras in the briefing room during the evacuation to protect methods and practices used by the agency to investigate bomb threats, a U.S. official said early Tuesday evening. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/3 "2015-06-10T05:51:15Z")
What do you reckon the government got up to during those 45 minutes where they were completely unaccountable to anyone? What about at night when the press room is closed? Are they breaching the public’s right to know what the government is doing then too? It is not our business to see up close details of Secret Service and White House security measures. It might be hard to cook this one into a full blown scandal, but don’t let me stop anyone from giving it the old college try. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/4 "2015-06-10T06:22:54Z")
They may not have done anything during that time. More than likely they didn’t do anything except look for any bombs. It’s the attitude, of _hey, lets kill these press cameras because we don’t know how this situation will develop._ That’s of concern. They have no business touching the press’ privately owned cameras that are there to cover the White House. If their bomb detection techniques are secret. That’s fine. Tell the press afterward they can’t use that footage. Make it clear National Security is a concern. That’s come up before. The press cooperates in matters of National Security. But, you do not touch the press’s cameras. That’s protected by the 1st Amendment. You can’t censor and they say afterward, sorry guys our bomb detection procedures are a national secret. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/5 "2015-06-10T12:08:35Z")
I gotta side with the Secret Service on this one. There was nothing going on at the time that the people had the right or need to see. Do we need to get videos of plainclothes agents so that potential adversaries can catalog their identities? Do we need to see what equipment they use to go about their jobs or more importantly, what equipment they don’t use that might be later exploited? These agents have important jobs to do and the more that is known exactly how they do it, the less effective they will be. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/6 "2015-06-10T12:12:58Z")
What’s important here is that we’re outraged. Facts, reason, common sense - we can worry about those things later. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/7 "2015-06-10T12:19:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > But, you do not touch the press’s cameras. That’s protected by the 1st Amendment. LOL, where? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/8 "2015-06-10T12:29:13Z")
I’ve actually sat here for ten minutes trying to come up with something that expresses the sheer incredulity I’m experiencing at this blatant attempt to drum up fauxrage… but seriously, nothing comes to mind. I almost never use emoticons, but here we go: :dubious::smack: ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/9 "2015-06-10T12:49:50Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It’s the attitude, of _hey, lets kill these press cameras because we don’t know how this situation will develop._ That’s of concern. No, it isn’t. You have yet to articulate a single reasonable concern. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/10 "2015-06-10T12:53:19Z")
I tend to think that getting rid of the White House Press Corps entirely could only improve the country. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/11 "2015-06-10T12:54:06Z")
So, you want the next batch of terrorists to know exactly how and where they search for bombs? Nice. Just because they’ve let us see how bomb squads work in the past doesn’t mean it was a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/12 "2015-06-10T12:56:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > WTH is going on? Manipulating the entire White House press pool just to get them out of the way? You don’t know how right you are. They had to get the press out of the way so that they could go down to the command center located in the swimming pool below the press room and plan the handover of the US government. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/13 "2015-06-10T12:57:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > There’s a genuine bomb threat and our President and his family aren’t evacuated? I’m pretty sure the Secret Service et al know exactly what parts of the WH have been secure and what parts have allowed limited access and they focused their evacuation and search accordingly. The seriousness and severity of the threat were assessed and proper action was taken. You can’t have the first family flee every time some asshole decides to ring up with a bullshit claim. And your ‘manipulating the press’ claim… that’s outside rational mind territory. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/14 "2015-06-10T13:01:37Z")
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of this story. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/15 "2015-06-10T13:02:24Z")
Hillary needed a place to shred the Benghazi emails and the press room was the only room available, so they had to get the press out of there and turn off their cameras. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/16 "2015-06-10T13:31:10Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I gotta side with the Secret Service on this one. There was nothing going on at the time that the people had the right or need to see. Do we need to get videos of plainclothes agents so that potential adversaries can catalog their identities? Do we need to see what equipment they use to go about their jobs or more importantly, what equipment they don’t use that might be later exploited? These agents have important jobs to do and the more that is known exactly how they do it, the less effective they will be. The earth shook and the rocks were split; the tombs were opened, and the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And I agree with **BobLibDem**. There is no First Amendment right to watch bomb searches or disposal. There is no First Amendment right to have cameras in the White House, for that matter. Someone could have called in bomb threat hoping to watch the direct feed, see how they do things, and plan his real attack accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/17 "2015-06-10T13:39:59Z")
Theres nothing to be outraged by. I seriously doubt the White House Press Secretary knew anything about it until afterward. He even said that afterward. I’d guess this was a spur of the moment decision by one staffer. I don’t think it should have happened. The cameras should have been left alone. Its easily dealt with later by telling the reporters the Secret Service procedures are sensitive and need protecting. These are elite reporters working in the White House Press Corps. They could easily edit their footage to only show the Agents entering the room, cut, then show them leaving after the all clear. Or not use the footage at all. This is easy stuff done every day by the press. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/18 "2015-06-10T13:45:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > But, you do not touch the press’s cameras. That’s protected by the 1st Amendment. You can’t censor and they say afterward, sorry guys our bomb detection procedures are a national secret. **aceplace** , meet **aceplace** : > [@](#): > > Tell the press afterward they can’t use that footage. Make it clear National Security is a concern. That’s come up before. The press cooperates in matters of National Security. It seems the two of you have some arguing to do. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/19 "2015-06-10T13:47:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > … The cameras should have been left alone. Its easily dealt with later by telling the reporters the Secret Service procedures are sensitive and need protecting. These are elite reporters working in the White House Press Corps. They could easily edit their footage to only show the Agents entering the room, cut, then show them leaving after the all clear. Or not use the footage at all. > > This is easy stuff done every day by the press. Following that plan would open up the very real potential for footage leaks, **aceplace57**. Once something is documented - especially digitally - it’s almost impossible for all traces of that footage to completely disappear, if someone really wants to keep a copy. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145/20 "2015-06-10T13:47:54Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Theres nothing to be outraged by. I seriously doubt the White House Press Secretary knew anything about it until afterward. He even said that afterward. > > I’d guess this was a spur of the moment decision by one staffer. I don’t think it should have happened. The cameras should have been left alone. Its easily dealt with later by telling the reporters the Secret Service procedures are sensitive and need protecting. These are elite reporters working in the White House Press Corps. They could easily edit their footage to only show the Agents entering the room, cut, then show them leaving after the all clear. Or not use the footage at all. > > This is easy stuff done every day by the press. The cameras’ live feed would still be going out. People with a satellite dish can monitor that feed, live. What about that? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-press-room-evacuated-somebody-covered-the-cameras-to-shut-off-press-access/722145.md?page=2)