Will 34 warships accompany Obama to India?

JEFF SCHOGOL/STARS AND STRIPES

Rumors are running rampant about President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to India, including one that he has dispatched a flotilla of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, to provide security while he is in Mumbai starting on Saturday.

“The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea,” according to a story by Press Trust of India, which did not indicate where this information came from. Nevertheless, it was the lead story on the Drudge Report on Thursday morning.

Even Teddy Roosevelt, who sent The Great White Fleet around the world, might find sending that many warships a tad excessive, so The Rumor Doctor decided to delve into the matter.

Sure enough, there are not 34 ships – and there isn’t an aircraft carrier – supporting the president’s trip, said a defense official, who declined to provide any information on security measures for presidential trips.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell called the notion of sending so many warships to protect the president “comical.”

“I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd this notion that somehow we were deploying 10 percent of the Navy -- some 34 ships and an aircraft carrier -- in support of the president's trip to Asia,” Morrell told reporters on Thursday.

Morrell would not talk about the president’s security arrangements other than to say “nothing close” to the armada reported in the Indian press is involved.

But the news editor for Press Trust of India said they stand by their story.

“Foreign media always exaggerate about presidential trips,” Gordon Johndroe, former deputy White House spokesman under President George W. Bush, said in an e-mail.. “I am positive there will not be ‘34 warships’ involved in this trip.”

The Times of India has reported that the trip will cost a whopping $200 million per day, but the White House says that’s just not true.

“The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in an e-mail. “Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it’s safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated.”

The Rumor Doctor was unable to reach someone at the Times of India by phone or e-mail.

It’s hard to put a price tag on presidential trips overseas because several variables are at work, such as how high the threat level is where the president is going, and whether the location in question is expensive, such as Paris, said Johndroe, also a former spokesman for the National Security Council

“I will say I think $200 million a day does sound pretty over the top,” he said. “Yes, it is several million dollars for the president to be somewhere overseas. …. But $200 million is way, way out of line. That figure is in line with – how much does it cost to secure an Olympic site for two weeks or a summit?”

THE RUMOR DOCTOR’S DIAGNOSIS: It doesn’t sound like there are plans afoot to send 7th Fleet to India or spend close to $1 billion on a four-day visit. Then again, The Rumor Doctor has been wrong before. For example, The Doctor rented “Slumdog Millionaire” because he thought it was a comedy when in fact “Police Academy 6” had more laughs.

THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH GEOFF MORRELL'S COMMENTS

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