A close call on security

Dozens of heads of state, including President Obama, were on the podium during the memorial celebration for Nelson Mandela.   You would imagine that security would be extraordinarily tight.   What a risk to have that much of the world's power so all vulnerable at the same time.   You would think it would be a terrorist's dream.

Fortunately, nothing happened.  But here's an obvious security gap that brings up the thought:   What if it had been someone bent on creating global chaos?

During the three hour ceremony, a man supposedly doing sign language interpretation was standing three feet from the speakers at the podium, including Obama.    It soon became obvious to the television audience that the man's gestures were not in sign language.   They seemed more random,  ritualistic even.   ASL readers began tweeting in that this was gibberish.

An investigation is being done into how he was hired and whether he was vetted.   So far no one seems able to find the company through which he was hired.    But the man himself has given an interview with the Associated Press.    He says that he suffers from schizophrenia, is on medication, and that during the ceremony he was hallucinating, thinking that angels were entering the stadium.   He also says that he has episodes of violence "a lot," although he declined to give details.    He has apologized.  After viewing a videotape of the event, he says he does not remember any of it.

Whew ! !    If vetting of people to be that close to world leaders was so lax, we now realize how vulnerable the world was during that ceremony.

Ralph