Feds, D.C. Prep for Inauguration Crowds

Dec. 12. 2008— -- The U.S. Secret Service Thursday disputed published reports predicting that more than 4 million people will be attending the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Security planners "have seen nothing suggesting that many people" will attend, Secret Service Special Agent Malcolm Wiley said during a news conference Thursday. Wiley refused to offer an official estimate, saying only that the Secret Service has internal numbers they are working with.

In a preliminary briefing with reporters, the Secret Service, the agency in charge of inauguration security, said that based on intelligence reports, they are expecting a larger audience than in any previous inauguration.

"We have seen his ability to draw crowds," Wiley said of the agency's experience while protecting Obama during the campaign. "Based on known hotel bookings within 100 miles of Washington, a known number of planes arriving in the area, and an estimated 10,000 charter buses coming to town, the Secret Service is preparing for a large crowd, but does not believe it will be close to 4 million people."

That number of buses parked end-to-end would stretch 75 miles. Officials have identified 5,600 parking spots in the district for those buses and are in the process of identifying enough spaces to meet the unprecedented demand. The average large event in Washington draws approximately 1,000 buses, officials said.

Harder to track, officials acknowledge, is the number of people coming to the D.C. area for the historic event who are not staying in hotels, but are staying with friends or families in private residences.

Virtually the entire force of 4,000 D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers will be on duty for the event and an additional 4,000 law enforcement officers from 96 police agencies will be present to assist. The total will be 1,000 more officers than at any previous inauguration.

The U.S. Park Police will also have additional support from 25 police agencies, though they did not release the number of officers they would be adding.