Gregg Abduction Raises Security Questions
WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Charles Bass was serving his first year in the House in 1995 when burglars smashed through the door of his downtown Washington apartment.
Though his wife and children were visiting from New Hampshire, no one was home when thieves splintered the door, stormed in and ransacked the apartment. “But, “it must have made a horrific sound,” Bass said.
In the wake of the abduction Tuesday of Kathleen Gregg from the suburban Washington home she shares with her husband, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, experts disagreed Wednesday about the level of danger facing national politicians and their families.
Two men broke into the Greggs’ home, forced Mrs. Gregg at knifepoint into her car and ordered her to withdraw money from her bank. They then released her unharmed. Police in her Virginia community said there was no evidence the kidnappers knew she was a senator’s wife.
“It’s not terribly important since I live here alone and I keep a low profile,” said Bass, who is in his fifth term in Congress and whose family remains home in Peterborough, N.H.
“I don’t use my car, I use the subway,” he said, and “I don’t look like I’m carrying gold coins in my pocket.”
Though Bass said he’s heard of Congress members getting mugged occasionally, he said he’s never heard of criminals specifically targeting politicians or their families. Bass said neither he nor other Congress members that he’s aware of take any additional security measures beyond those provided by the Capitol Police.
The Capitol Police, who are charged with securing the grounds around the Capitol complex, have an entire division devoted solely to the protection of members of Congress and their families, said the department’s spokeswoman, Officer Jessica Gissubel.
Gissubel said the department provides members with tips on how to make their families and their homes safer, how to be aware of their surroundings and what to do if they or their relatives are assaulted.
It’s not clear whether Mrs. Gregg had received training on how to handle hostile situations. But law enforcement officers said she dealt with the situation well by luring the intruders, who threw her to the floor, to the bank.
“With the situation she was presented with, she handled herself absolutely superbly,” said Officer Courtney Young, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County, Va., police department, which responded to Mrs. Gregg’s call. “By her getting the two suspects out of her house and into a public place, she was able to run from them into the bank and to safety.”
Given what happened to Mrs. Gregg, U.S. Congressman Jeb Bradley, R-NH, said Wednesday he spoke with his wife in New Hampshire to discuss whether to reconsider their decision not to take extra security precautions.
“Given the world that we live in with the threat of crime and terrorism, there is a threat to our security, our individual security,” Bradley said. But because his family lives in his district, Bradley said they have never considered security an issue.
By contrast, Washington “is a city that works at night a great deal,” said former Sen. Warren Rudman, a New Hampshire Republican. “All you can do is keep your eyes and wits about you.”
But several security experts stressed that people working in the public eye can never be too careful
. “Any public official would be wise to have some sort of security or personal protection for their families,” said Willie Borden, who was a police officer in Washington for 25 years and now runs B&B Security Consultants, a private protection agency here.
“After 9-11, everything is on the table,” Borden said. “We used to take it for granted that nobody would take a child from school.”
“The real key is awareness – being aware of your surroundings and always having an exit strategy,” said Alfred McComber, executive director of the Security Intelligence Bureau, a security supply store in Falls Church, Va., a Washington suburb.
“Without a plan,” he said, “it’s basically like a deer stuck in the headlights. You’re like, ‘What do I do?’ And by then it’s too late.”
