'Renegade' Joins Race For White House: Obama Is Given Code Name by Secret Service

WP: 'Renegade' Joins Race For White House
Obama Is Given Code Name by Secret Service
By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 17, 2007; Page A05


Sen. Barack Obama -- or "Renegade," as he's known to the Secret Service agents guarding him -- speaks in Iowa. The "code" names are no longer kept secret. (By Charlie Neibergall -- Associated Press)

Sen. Barack Obama has a new tag: "Renegade."

That's what Secret Service agents are calling the Illinois Democrat, in the time-honored tradition of giving "secret" code names to presidential candidates and other protected dignitaries. As is custom, the Obama moniker reflects something of the man himself (though he might prefer "progressive" or "independent").

Is the same true for a woman?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) may hope so. Her code name is "Evergreen," given to her when her husband (former president Bill Clinton, a.k.a. "Eagle") first became a protectee....

***

...according to a Secret Service spokesman, all code names are chosen by military officials, suggesting that they should not be examined too closely for deeper meaning. The Obama and Clinton campaigns declined to comment on the security procedure (they are the only two candidates so far to receive official protection, and Clinton's is a result of her status as a former first lady).

These days, though, the code names have little to do with actual safety; instead they play a more ceremonial and logistical role, letting agents bark easily understood directions into their sleeves as a protectee is moving from location to location. "There's really no secrecy to it," said security expert William H. Pickle, who was the special agent in charge of Gore's detail. According to Pickle, the names were useful when radio and phone communications were unsecured and easily picked up by outsiders; now the military and Secret Service can communicate over highly secured lines, making a code name irrelevant. Still, habit lives on....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061601079.html?nav=hcmodule

or are most of them x-rated?

Lyndon Johnson's daughters were code named Velvet and Venus.

Those sound like stripper or porn star names to me, but then, the (early) 1960's were a more innocent time - right?

It was purely coincidence that John Edwards, the man who is an avid runner, was given the code name "Speedway" (in 2004).