Security concerns mount as Biden’s Northern Ireland visit nears
Emily Jacobs
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President Joe Biden’s trip to Northern Ireland this week has been beset by security concerns amid the re-heightening of terrorism threat levels and news that authorities had uncovered a bomb plot aimed at upending the visit.
The president’s trip is centered around marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, the landmark peace accord ending decades of bloodshed between Ireland and Northern Ireland. While the two share a now de-militarized border, Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom and Ireland is part of the European Union. The situation has become precarious in recent years, however, as post-Brexit matters have caused parliamentary gridlock.
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Biden, who has long boasted of his Irish heritage, will first arrive in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, on Tuesday. He’ll spend a day and a half there but will only take part in one public event, a speaking engagement at Ulster University celebrating the opening of it’s new Belfast campus. The president will be joined in Northern Ireland by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Joe Kennedy III, who serves as US special envoy for Northern Ireland.
On Wednesday, he’ll meet with NI political parties and address other business leaders before traveling to the Republic of Ireland that afternoon. He’ll stay there for three days, where he has a packed schedule planned.
Biden’s Northern Ireland visit will notably not include a trip to Stormont, the north’s currently inactive parliament that has been gridlocked for more than a year over post-Brexit political turmoil. The president was invited to speak before the body, but the White House turned it down, citing logistical matters.
In a sign of preparation being made for Biden’s visit, a fleet of security vehicles from the president’s motorcade were flown into the Belfast International Airport by the US Air Force this past Wednesday. Secret Service agents have also been on the ground preparing for the president’s arrival.
The visit will require a security operation not seen in the north since the G8 Summit was held there in 2013, Police Service of Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd told reporters Thursday.
Despite the security preparations, Biden spending less time in Northern Ireland is not entirely surprising given the threats.
A report published Sunday revealed that the PSNI had carried out searches for bomb parts in the city of Londonberry last weekend over fears of an attack by a dissident republican group. The report stated, “the belief is that the New IRA was planning some sort of attack to coincide with Biden’s visit,” possibly a mortar attack.
Republicans in Northern Ireland support independence from the UK, while loyalists want to remain a part of the UK.
Officials raised the terror threat level from “substantial” to “severe” late last month, as the 25th anniversary approached. Asked about this immediately after it happened, Biden said he would not be deterred from traveling to Northern Ireland, telling reporters, “No, they can’t keep me out.”
The White House pointed out that same day that the threat level delegation had been at “severe” for the last 12 years, only being downgraded for a brief period starting in 2022.
A Secret Service spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on security preparations.
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Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Assembly’s secretary of state and de-facto leader of the north, put a positive spin on Biden’s short visit when asked about it this week.
“I think you should welcome President Biden and thank him for coming, I’m quite sure he’s got other important things on his schedule that he also needs to deal with, and I believe part of his trip is actually to go and see family and relatives in Ireland,” he said. “It is absolutely not a snub. I’m delighted he’s coming to Northern Ireland and I’m absolutely sure he’ll be pleased with the progress he will see Northern Ireland’s made over the last 25 years.”