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INTERVIEW: A rare look into security at the presidential residence

To the public, the presidential residence may have an aura of mystery about it. But for the personnel in charge of security, it is filled with pressure and tedious duties. Staff must always be on alert and the slightest mistake could result in disciplinary action.

Presidential security is the remit of the National Security Bureau.

A security guard at the presidential residence who asked to remain anonymous told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) that security had become much stricter and more thorough following the March 19, 2004, shooting incident -- a reference to the attempted assassination against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), in which Chen was grazed by a bullet and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was hit in the knee while they were campaigning in Tainan on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.

The security guard said that in the past, when Cabinet members or Democratic Progressive Party heavyweights visited the president, their chauffeurs were allowed to walk freely around the resting area.

But since the March 19 incident, all drivers have had to wait in a predetermined area and are no longer allowed to walk around freely.

Entering cars are also carefully searched and body searches are stricter than at international airports, with metal detectors meeting the strictest standards, he said.

A VIP once had to go through a metal detector five times -- removing belt, watch and other accessories -- before it was determined that a metal clip on the sole of a shoe had set off the detector. The visitor said he had often traveled abroad wearing the same shoes without detectors going off -- evidence of the sensitivity of the equipment used in the presidential residence.

Three layers of guards -- inner, middle and outer layers -- include police and military police, but ordinary security guards themselves are not allowed in the president's residential area. Instead, personal body guards stand at the door and control every visitor.

Family relations and emotional reactions are the biggest problems for these guards, who spend more time away from their families than with them and are under constant pressure, the security guard said.

Sungshan police district once arrested a young security guard from the presidential detail when he tried to mitigate the pressure and routine by leaving the compound between shifts to meet a woman after agreeing on a price for her services over the Internet.

To the guard's surprise, there was no woman at the agreed meeting place. Only police.
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