THE PAPAL VISIT : Thousands on Job : Pope Safety: Defending the Faith

Public appearances can be perilous for Pope John Paul II. He has been shot and wounded in St. Peter’s Square, rushed by a knife-wielding assailant in Portugal and nearly overrun by a riot in Chile, doggedly completing Mass through a tear gas haze. Twice, would-be bombers have slipped in close to his path, only to be discovered and disarmed before he arrived.

His station, his uncommon accessibility and his proclivity for controversy on matters ranging from Polish politics to the bedroom behavior of Roman Catholics make John Paul an enticing target for terrorists, madmen and other potential assassins. He is warned often to take precautions, and he is said to have a standard, benignly fatalistic response:

“Thy kingdom come.”

Last year, while on parade through a West German city, the Pope decided to slide open the window of his bulletproof Popemobile and wave to the throng that lined his path. There was, however, a problem. His bodyguards, seeking to protect him from just such impulses, had rigged the window so that only they could open it.

Holy Escape

John Paul began to fiddle with the latch. Unable to work it with his fingers, His Holiness picked up the first handy tool he could find--the large crucifix that hangs from his neck. And before long he was free.

The story has made the rounds this summer among law enforcement and Catholic Church officials in the United States. For 10 days in September, John Paul will be under their protection, and they present the window incident--witnessed firsthand by U.S. security experts, but no doubt edging closer to Apocrypha with each telling--as parable, an illustration of how the Pope can make things difficult for those who would keep him from harm.

“The Holy Father,” said Father Robert Lynch, U.S. coordinator for the papal visit, “is not overly sympathetic to arguments advanced on behalf of his personal safety. The Pope has not made one concession regarding personal safety. He still does the spontaneous and the unexpected.”

Cocoon Around Pope

From stashing getaway cars under altars to mounting emergency buzzers over his bed, U.S. security planners intend to create a cocoon that will surround the Pope during his every moment in America and protect him from assailants, from overly enthusiastic crowds--and from his own impulses.

“The Pope,” said George Morrison, a Los Angeles Police Department commander coordinating papal security here, “has a strong commitment to people, and there are certain things he is going to do--things that from a security standpoint I would prefer he didn’t do--and you have to be prepared for that.”

The intensive preparation reflects an evolution in the field. Gone are the days of simply positioning quick, brave bodyguards to step up and take an assassin’s bullet. Now the focus is on what is called pro-active security--detailed logistical organization, brainstorming to envision all threats, drills for emergency scenarios.

“Anything that can bring harm,” said William Corbett, the chief Secret Service spokesman in Washington, “we have thought about and discussed and come up with a solution.”

Secret Service agents refer to these solutions as “measures” and as a rule refuse to discuss them. However, interviews with law enforcement sources, church officials involved in the papal visit and others yield a general picture--and some telling examples--of how the Pope will be protected.

The Secret Service budget is $5.7 million for the operation, and at least that much will be spent by city, county and state agencies to support it. The expenditure, law enforcement officials maintain, is needed not only to provide the Pope the same level of protection afforded any visiting head of state, but also to ensure the proper atmosphere for a successful pastoral visit.

‘People Mission’

“The Pope’s mission here in the United States is a people mission,” Corbett said. “He is coming here to see and speak to the people. And we understand that. Our job is to make sure that wherever he does go, he is going to be in a secure environment.”

Security will be organized in concentric circles around the Pope, with each ring closer to him receiving a greater degree of attention. Thus, spectators at the far end of a stadium Mass will undergo less scrutiny than dignitaries meeting with him in close quarters.

“Post and sweep” and “high ground” are frequently used terms. Each street or venue where the Pope travels is to be “posted” hours before: It is cleared of unauthorized people and placed under guard. Then the sector is swept for bombs or any other untoward surprises. It remains posted until the Pope has come and gone.

“High ground” is a legacy from the John F. Kennedy assassination and, more specifically, the sixth-story window where Lee Harvey Oswald is believed to have drawn his deadly bead.

“Security has to control all high ground whenever he is out in the open,” one source said. “You will find police sharpshooters on top of all high buildings with a view of (the Pope). And they literally clean all windows: Every window where people would be looking down, they know who is in them, and they won’t let you open them.”

Another innovation from a previous presidential attack is a technique called “tenting.” Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in 1981 as he moved from a hotel to a limousine. Since then, the Secret Service has adopted a procedure of draping canopies between doorways and vehicles. This is designed to deprive anyone of a clear shot.

Getaway Car Nearby

Everywhere the Pope goes, a getaway car will be close by, and an escape route will be cleared of traffic and at the ready. At some stadiums the escape vehicles will be under the huge temporary altars from which John Paul will conduct Mass.

This requirement presented a problem for the Sept. 15 service at the Coliseum. There is but one conventional vehicle route out of the huge bowl, a tunnel that might well be clogged in the chaos of a crisis. So the escape vehicle will be equipped with four-wheel drive, capable of carrying the Pope via a special ramp up the stands and through the arches of the stadium peristyle. The car’s motor will be kept idling throughout the service.

Similarly, in Monterey, 11 miles of state highway will be closed to all foot and motor traffic on the day the Pope visits for the sole purpose of reserving an emergency avenue for him. The security requirement constitutes an extreme hardship for traffic planners, who already fear a mammoth traffic jam on the bottlenecked peninsula.

In every city, the Pope will be transported for a distance in a slow-moving procession. This allows millions to catch a glimpse of the pontiff, and it often is the high point of a papal visit. In these parades, the Pope will be ensconced in one of his nearly impregnable Popemobiles. A car loaded with well-armed agents will follow.

Parade routes will be scouted extensively. Mailboxes, trees, overpasses, manholes--anything that could harbor an assassin or contain explosives will be investigated beforehand. Newspaper vending machines and parked cars will be removed as a measure against bomb plants. In San Francisco, authorities were forced to retract earlier descriptions of the papal route amid concern that underground mass-transit tunnel ways could not be properly swept for bombs.

Metal Detectors to Be Used

The Secret Service is sensitive about its high technology devices, but one of the most important is also one of the most common. Metal detectors will be used at most papal appearances. At the Coliseum, plans call for every single spectator in a crowd estimated at 100,000 to be electronically frisked. Thirty-six metal detectors will be stationed around the stadium, and each is theoretically capable of searching 1,000 people an hour. A less ambitious employment of the devices at the 1984 Olympic Opening Ceremonies caused delays, and church officials are advising everyone to arrive several hours early.

Construction comes into play. Temporary altars must be built high enough off the ground to allow someone to crawl underneath and search for explosives. Detroit’s Hart Plaza, abutting a forest of skyscrapers, created a special security problem. Unable to control high ground, planners developed a special protective canopy for the papal appearance.

The Pope desires only one or two host nation security agents near him during visits. They usually are joined by two Swiss Guard officers (sans their traditional halberds), two Vatican police officers and Jesuit Father Roberto Tucci, director of Vatican Radio and chief planner of papal trips. None of these five carry weapons, although all except Tucci are trained in a form of martial arts they decline to identify.

There is conflicting information about whether the Pope wears a flak jacket under his cassock.

Can’t Take Gifts

He is not allowed to accept gifts from the crowd, even during ceremonies, in the fear that they might disguise a weapon. An exception will occur in Phoenix, where a representative of the Pimas Indian tribe will be allowed to present the Pope with a single eagle feather.

The Pope’s sleeping quarters will be well protected. Each rectory or private residence where he spends the night will be declared a temporary diplomatic facility, a measure that grants federal agents jurisdiction over the premises. A button will be mounted over his bed, allowing the pontiff to summon help should an emergency arise.

Opinions vary among security experts over just how dangerous a tour this will be. Some papal planners believe that the risk was greatly reduced by the months of lead time they were granted. By comparison, all security advance work for presidential trips overseas often must be completed in less than 10 days.

There is disagreement also about where the Pope might be most vulnerable. His unplanned excursions into processional crowds are cited as a danger, but others counter that the very unpredictability of his movements is a protective measure--it will take an extremely clairvoyant assassin to predict if and where the Pope is to dismount from his protective vehicle.

The primary responsibility for protecting the Pope falls with the Secret Service, which intends to deploy hundreds of agents for the task. Local agencies will provide backup support--ranging from traffic control to rooftop sharpshooters--and also must control the crowds generated by the Pope.

Calling Out the Troops

This last assignment could prove to be formidable. In Florida, 2,400 National Guardsmen will be dispatched to Miami for the papal visit. In most cities on the route, police departments have canceled all days off and vacations for the period. Overtime is cited by most law enforcement officials as the most expensive item in their papal budgets.

Security officials said that the numerous demonstrations to be staged in conjunction with the visit can be more helpful than harmful, allowing an opportunity to investigate instigators in advance, negotiate pledges of nonviolence and plan precisely how to respond, should matters escalate.

One city where demonstrations might prove troublesome is San Francisco. Members of the city’s large gay community have expressed outrage over the Pope’s contention that their life style is “intrinsically immoral.” They promise only nonviolent protests, but law enforcement officials remember how a 1979 demonstration related to the assassination of gay Supervisor Harvey Milk erupted into near riot, and how for a night the San Francisco Police Department lost control of the city’s Civic Center.

“We are preparing for any contingency,” San Francisco police spokesman David Ambrose said tersely.

Morrison of the LAPD compared the emotional reactions of papal crowds to those usually reserved for “an idol.”

He said: “The intensity of people will be very great. We are taking that into consideration in our planning efforts and in our training. We will have people who do things that don’t make good sense, only as a result of their fervor and their enthusiasm to see or touch the Pope.”

Police Siege

The challenge, he and his counterparts in other cities have said, will be to protect the Pope and his spectators without making the whole affair seem like one long police siege. Indeed, one of the few instructions from Vatican security officials is that the Pope should not be surrounded by an imposing phalanx of bodyguards.

“This is not a military state,” Morrison said. “We are not going to let anything happen to the Pope, but we are not going to be oppressive or paranoid in our efforts to avoid it. We want this to be a very enjoyable event.”

But no matter how thorough the security preparations, there remains the possibility that something could go wrong.

“Protective measures are not foolproof,” Morrison said. “There is nothing that we do that is foolproof, and we don’t kid ourselves along that line.”