Top executives of law enforcement and security agencies worked together Thursday to plan the District’s first state funeral since 2004.
Former President Gerald Ford died on Tuesday night at age 93. He is scheduled to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol from Saturday until Tuesday.
His funeral — the first state funeral in D.C. since Ronald Reagan’s in 2004 — is expected to draw thousands to the Capitol rotunda. The security requirements brought in hundreds of officers from dozens of agencies, including the Secret Service, the Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Police and the D.C. police department.
As of Thursday afternoon, agency heads were still discussing their assignments.
“Everything’s in the planning phase,” said D.C. Police Cmdr. Robert Contee. “We’re getting closer, though.”
Ford’s family was scheduled to have a private service for the 38th president in California today. His body will be flown to D.C. Saturday. It will be driven by the World War II memorial on the Mall and then taken to the Capitol, where it will lie in state until Tuesday.
After a ceremony at the National Cathedral on Tuesday, Ford’s body will be flown back to Grand Rapids, near the presidential library and museum that bears his name.
His family decided to do away with the horse-drawn caisson, the traditional accessory to presidential funerals, and opted to use a motorcade and a hearse to move the casket through the District.
