Yes, there is even a presidential transition for US Secret Service code names, which are anything but secret anyway in loose-lips Washington.
US president-elect Barack Obama — also known as Renegade — had a say in choosing the code name that his protectors use when they are whispering into those microphones in their sleeves. He was given his choice of several names starting with R.
And in keeping with the tradition of having all family members’ code names start with the same letter, future first lady Michelle Obama is Renaissance, and daughters Sasha and Malia are known as Rosebud and Radiance, respectively.
PHOTO: AP
As for US President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, whatever else their new lives hold for them, they can take their alternate identities as Trailblazer and Tempo with them. They are still entitled to Secret Service protection.
Lists of possible code names for those who receive Secret Service protection are drawn up by the White House Communications Agency, a branch of the military that serves the White House and Secret Service. It looks for words that are easily pronounced and easily understood in radio transmissions.
The subjects do have some say in the names they will be known by, and some have been given more leeway than others.
Which is not always a good thing.
Al Gore’s oldest daughter, Karenna, was 19 when her father became vice president in 1993. Old enough to know better.
In 1997, she wrote: “Ever since four years ago, when I was put on the spot and told ‘two syllables’ and ‘It has to start with an s,’ I have been cringing in the back seat when identified as ‘Smurfette.’”
Truth be told, the whole idea of secret code names is something of a misnomer these days.
“There’s nothing Top Secret about them,” Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said. “It has no operational security significance anymore because of encrypted communication capabilities.”
Nowadays, Zahren said, the code names have “nothing to do with security” and are more about tradition and ease in radio communication when tracking the subjects’ movements.
They also provide never-ending fodder for comics and politicians looking for a laugh.
As vice president, Gore repeatedly told crowds that he is so boring, his code name is ... Al Gore.
Over the years, some code names have seemed fairly random – former president Gerald Ford’s was Passkey — while others seemed tailor-made for their subjects.
Incoming vice president Joe Biden, who has Irish roots, is Celtic.
Former president Ronald Reagan, who cultivated the cowboy image, was Rawhide.
Former president Jimmy Carter, a Sunday School teacher and deacon, is Deacon.
Vice President Dick Cheney, who likes to fish, is Angler. Writer Barton Gellman thought Angler was such an apt description for the wily vice president that he used it as the name of a best-selling book about him.
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