With Hu Jintao's arrival, an extra burden for the Secret Service

Plans for this week's state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao were set in motion months ago -- and none may be more important than the elaborate security cordon that descended upon the dignitary as soon as his plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base on Tuesday.

Informally, Hu is considered a "high," which in Secret Service parlance refers to the resources his detail receives -- including two heavily armored limos, a hazmat truck, counter-snipers, and provisions for comprehensive security sweeps of all locations he visits. Hu won't be assigned a code name; now that communications are encrypted, agents will refer to his entourage simply as the "China detail."

This is the third time in a year that Hu has visited the United States, and so it's the third time that U.S. agents get to work closely with their Chinese counterparts. Familiarity breeds trust -- and that helps the Secret Service generally get what it wants when President Obama visits China.

"Whatever we ask for here from a foreign security service will be asked for when one of our protectees visit there, so there is a need to be reasonable and flexible," a senior Secret Service official said.

The Service sent agents to watch how China executed the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and it regularly hosts Chinese agents who want to learn the art of protecting major events in the middle of busy cities.

What China's security agents want is usually space between Hu and protesters, especially the Falun Gong movement, which China labels a cult. There's negotiation between the two agencies about how close the protesters can get. In general, the Secret Service doesn't accept requests to keep protesters from seeing a motorcade or being out of ear-distance of their protectee, unless there's a threat to public safety. Even then, the local police usually handles that part of the assignment.

In China, the Ministry of State Security can clear whole buildings in advance of presidential visits. In the United States, the Secret Service has much less authority.

Hu's hotel of choice is the Washington Marriott Wardman Park, which has a cavernous underground garage that's perfect for secure arrivals and a perimeter than be secured fairly easily. It's also close to the Chinese Embassy. More than 100 Ministry of State Security agents travel with Hu and advance his trip. (All of them are vetted by the State Department before arriving -- to the extent that the State Department can vet Chinese security agents.)

Escorting Hu to his appointments in Washington will be a presidential-level retinue of motorcycle outriders.

But jurisdictional issues complicate things: When he's transiting through D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department takes over. And when he's arriving at or near the White House, Park Police officers lead the motorcade. All these agencies communicate now on an encrypted radio frequency -- a relatively new development.

"This is an official state visit, which carries its own significance, but it helps that it is in Washington, D.C., where we work with all the law enforcement and public safety entities daily -- hourly," said the Secret Service official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the subject.

Hu's designation as a "high" doesn't necessarily mean that there are a significant number of threats to his person. It is partly the result of an intelligence assessment that the Service conducts prior to each visit, but it also takes into account the world leader's visibility and the attention and significance of the visit.

Planning for Hu's arrival involves agents from many field offices, working in concert with the Chinese consulate and the State Department. Hu will travel to Chicago on Thursday and return to China on Friday.

This has been a busy week for the agency. They're in the final stages of planning the security net for the State of the Union, which has been designated a National Special Security Event. And on Friday, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, a host of foreign dignitaries, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan -- another "high" -- attended the well-publicized memorial service for Amb. Richard Holbrooke at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.