By Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan
New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) As India is gearing up to welcome US President Donald Trump who will arrive on his maiden visit on February 24, a high level security apparatus has been put in place.
Trump’s security is in the hands of the American Secret Service which is tasked with protecting the US President. In India, the SPG and the NSG will help the secret service agents maintain the security machinery of Trump.
According to reports, secret service agents came to India a month ago, as is the routine. The American agents laid their own communication system through which they will keep track of every development minute by minute. According to media reports, permission was taken from the Indian authorities to bring the technology and equipment from the US to India. As it landed in India the bar code was scanned at the airport to see that the return from India is as smooth.
In the entire security apparatus, the most important components are a ‘football’ and a ‘biscuit’.
The football is a black colour leather briefcase which comes into service when the President leaves America. It is the ultimate power accessory, a doomsday machine that could destroy the entire world. It is in fact a nuclear device with a secret code and alarm.
According to reports, the ‘nuclear football’ has an antenna protruding from it. The antenna is linked to a satellite phone.
According to Dailymail, the US has been using this nuclear football since 1962.
There are four things in the football and the most important thing is the ‘biscuit’, a debit card sized piece of plastic containing the codes the US President needs to order the launch of nuclear weapons.
Trump will arrive in Ahmedabad around noon on February 24 for a little less than a 36-hour-long trip to India.
Ajay Tomar, Special police commissioner (crime) of Ahmedabad, said, “Arrangements have been made for traffic management apart from the security. On the 22-km long route of the roadshow, more than 1000 officers and jawans have been deployed. Rehearsals are being held to see that everything goes off smoothly. I don’t want to share more details.”
From Ahmedabad, the Trumps will travel to Agra before arriving at the national capital for the main leg of the visit on Tuesday.
“We were tasked with providing security for Trump’s visit to Rajghat. All preparations have been completed. Some precautionary measures will be taken to regulate traffic,” said a Delhi Police officer on condition of anonymity.
(Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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