TheBuzz
TheBuzz
It was a jaw-dropper. Finance ministers or their seconds-in-command from 13 Asian nations staged a news conference Wednesday evening at the Ala Moana Hotel, with no visible security. Things that make
you go, ‘Hah?!’Reporters gathered for the finance ministers' announcement of a currency swap agreement were agog.
There was no cadre of Secret Service-types in suits talking into their sleeves, no uniformed police officers, not even a beefy UH football player in an aloha print vest to check the credentials of those entering the Hibiscus room -- never mind a metal detector.
It was the evening of the opening day of the Asian Development Bank conference at the nearby Hawaii Convention Center, for which $4 million to $7 million will have been spent on security -- or at least $6,700 per protester.
The finance officials served dual roles while in Hawaii, as members of the ADB board of governors, as well as in their official capacity with their own governments. The news conference was a function of the latter role, hence the ADB did not request security.
"The finance ministers decided to do it (the news conference) because they were all here and decided to do their other business at the same time," said ADB Senior External Communications Manager Ian Gill.
Gill said the outside location was chosen to differentiate the announcement from the ADB, "It was separate -- sort of like the U.S. meeting China to discuss the spy plane issue."
For such events, Gill said, "all security matters are in the hands of the local authorities."
HPD Assistant Chief Boisse Correa said through an assistant that no request was made for HPD officers to provide security.
The U.S. Secret Service Honolulu Office also received no requests, according to Sam Tong, assistant to Special Agent in Charge Al Joaquin.
Joaquin said the agency would not have had jurisdiction over the finance officials' safety. He said had the U.S. Department of State made a determination of some threat "that would necessitate a protective detail."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com