By SANDRA SOBIERAJ
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney was moved Thursday to Camp David
in what his spokeswoman called "a purely precautionary measure" following this
week's terrorist strikes.
Cheney would rejoin President Bush this weekend, press secretary Juleanna
Glover.
"This is a purely precautionary measure," Glover said. "From a security
standpoint, this is not business-as-usual anymore."
The vice president was at the White House Thursday morning and, after lunch,
returned briefly to his official residence at the Naval Observatory en route to
the heavily guarded presidential retreat at Camp David, Glover said.
Citing security concerns, she would not comment on how Cheney traveled to the
mountain compound in southern Maryland.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cheney
was also secreted to Camp David on Wednesday and spent the night there, where
the heavily wooded grounds are easier to defend against air attacks than the
gated Naval Observatory on Washington's Embassy Row.
A White House schedule released last week had Bush scheduled to travel to
Camp David. Press secretary Ari Fleischer declined to say whether the president
still intended to go, citing security concerns.
AP-WS-09-13-01 1820EDT