ASEM
The gathering of the gorillas
Next weekend's ASEM 6 Summit will be bringing leading political figures to Helsinki, accompanied by their heavily-armed security details
By Tommi Nieminen
We know the stereotype of the politician's bodyguard from Hollywood action movies. The sort of pictures in which Clint Eastwood portrays a grouchy presidential gorilla dressed in a dark Secret Service suit and even darker shades, from behind which he scans the crowd in the hope that he will be able to fire off a volley of shots from his trusty semi-automatic.
And now, during our six-month spell as the EU Presidency, Finland is choc-a-bloc with these same bodyguards, because any and every prominent foreign politician brings his own detail of security men and women along for the ride.
The worst crush of security men is in prospect next weekend, for the holding in Helsinki of the ASEM 6 Summit, at which European and Asian heads of state or government will discuss a range of issues.
Then the capital in general and the area surrounding the Fair Centre in particular will be filled with men-in-black-with-earphones, because among the delegates attending will be China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi, the South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, and the leaders of the 25 EU member-states.
In all, the country will be playing host to dozens of presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers, whose life must be protected at almost any price.
How that protection is provided is explained by self-defence and unarmed combat teacher and trainer to bodyguards and security men Auvo Niiniketo. Niiniketo, a jiu-jitsu 8th dan, is also the Finnish national representative in the IBSSA, the International Bodyguard and Security Services Association.
If a security team is planning the visit to Helsinki of a high-profile politician, say the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, what sort of things will they have to take into account beforehand?
"Things will be planned out down to fine details probably even weeks before the trip, and surveillance of potential threats is started in good time. Let's take the case of Merkel's trips by car in Helsinki - they are timed precisely, the limousine is at a certain junction at a certain predetermined time, down to a few seconds. And for instance you might have an order that people living along Mannerheimintie would be instructed not to open their windows at the time when Merkel's car is going past."
A leading politician's hotel room will naturally have to be swept and inspected before arrival?
"The first time a room is checked out weeks in advance, and the security men take digital photos of the room to get the layout. Outsiders will not know in advance which rooms or suites the politicians are going to, and of course the room is checked again before the guest enters."
"Sniffer-dogs will go over the room for bombs. And if there are road or street repairs going on nearby, then the security staff will check that out, too, to ensure that there are no explosives secreted under the asphalt."
It is important for politicians to get up close and personal with people sometimes. How is Merkel protected if she decides to go walkabout in a crowd in Helsinki?
"Well, then the bodyguards are at panic stations. They just have to trust that there are no threats to the subject around. The close-up people are about a metre away from the subject. There would be four of five of them if it is a big group of people. A little further away is a second security ring. Then you would have men up on the roofs who report back on radiophones if there is a such and such a suspicious-looking guy standing on such and such corner. If necessary, there maybe marksmen around with rifles. And possibly helicopters circling overhead."
And what about if there is some particularly suspicious-looking type in the crowd, seen as a potential threat?
"One of the security people would go over and stand next to him or her."
How about pressing the flesh, when the politician does a handshake line?
"The most important thing is that any possible threat does not know where and when the handshaking session is to take place. This is kept secret. Some of the detail will be keeping an eye on the hands pushed forward, just to see that nobody is brandishing a gun. There will be a lot of plain-clothes cops in the crowd, too. If somebody like George W. Bush goes and shakes hands with a crowd of people, it's a racing certainty that some of the hands will belong to policemen."
The ASEM Summit in Helsinki is going to be held at the Fair Centre. When your statesman or stateswoman has to answer the call of nature, how does the trip to the WC go down?
"Firstly someone goes in and inspects the loo. And while the politician is doing his or her business, the security man has to be close enough so that he can prevent an attack. It is because of situations like this that female bodyguards were taken onto Tarja Halonen's security staff."
President Tarja Halonen is one of the few Finnish politicians to have her own security detail. Who looks after her?
"Halonen's security is the responsibility of units of the National Traffic Police, whose task is public order and security in addition to traffic surveillance. At public gatherings there will be a close-up man a metre away and then local police officers and another bodyguard just ahead of the President. His or her task is to radio back with information, for instance to warn those coming behind to move left a bit, because there is a drunk shouting insults on the right-hand side of the sidewalk."
Things in Finland are run according to Finnish law. Under what authority do these foreign bodyguards operate, armed to the teeth and in the service of visiting dignitaries?
"All the necessary powers have been fixed up well before the event. The states concerned will send an advance list of the people who are authorised to carry arms and have a permit to act if something goes awry. Quite often they will be travelling on diplomatic passports. When the U.S. President travels, he has a small military detachment along with him, which can in principle defend the target for fifteen minutes against any kind of adversary."
In the movies, politicians' minders and bodyguards are always dressed in dark suits, wear Ray-Bans, and have a mean hard look. How do they really dress?
"It depends on the situation. If it is a formal occasion, then a dark suit. Israeli bodyguards are often in T-shirts and shirts with the collar open, and they carry their weapons under the shirt."
If and when the bodyguards around a top politician fail in their work, the results can have quite resounding significance, even on the global level. When was the last time a security detail really screwed up badly?
"The Israelis suffered a big failure when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot and assassinated in Tel Aviv in 1995. The armed assassin came from between the security men. Israeli politicians are very ready to go out and meet the people, and on this occasion the team did not monitor the situation carefully enough. They did not secure the area. It must have been a strange situation for them in any case, as the gunman was a right-wing Jewish extremist wearing a yarmulke, who went and did this to his own Prime Minister."
What is the most important attribute for a good bodyguard?
"Smarts. The ability to use your head. If you end up in a combat situation, it means something has gone wrong at the planning stage. If somebody does attack, then the most important thing is to be able to push the assailant away. You don't need to be some beefy gorilla for that, but you do have to have the body strength and the skill to be able to protect your client."
"A good security man can spot the risk types - it's a bodyguard's natural gift. The situation is often rather like one of those puzzle-pictures: you have to be able to pick out the things that don't quite fit, that don't compute. Are there suspicious characters that do not look quite the same as the other people you are scanning? At the same time, however, it is an important attribute for a bodyguard not to see bogeymen or threatening situations or people here, there, and everywhere. You need to be able to handle a bit of tension in the right way."
When can a bodyguard reach for his gun?
"That's perfectly clear. If it is a question of the client's life being on the line and if someone pulls out a weapon, then the bodyguard has to try to shoot first."
"And there's a rule of thumb, that the bodyguard can get a new client, but not a new life. Of course you can put your body in the line of fire to make sure that the subject cannot be shot at. I've done that myself."
And did you get shot on that occasion?
"No, I didn't."
What does a bodyguard say, if someone comes up and tries to ask him the time of day while he is on a security detail?
"If it were me, I'd say I'm sorry but right now I have no time to chat. Call my boss."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.9.2006
TOMMI NIEMINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
tommi.nieminen@hs.fi
|
| 5.9.2006 - THIS WEEK |
 The gathering of the gorillas |
|
