White House Promises Chicago Won't Be Saddled With NATO/G8 Security Tabs

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 2, 2012 4:30PM

On Tuesday, White House officials promised that Chicago taxpayers would not be responsible for the security costs of the May NATO/G8 summits and the expected protests against them. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said reimbursement from the federal government and money the host committee is raising will take care of the costs. Rhodes said the Obama administration is confident that the summits “can go forward without a burden on the Chicago taxpayer.”

While the G8 details will be hashed out closer to the actual meeting, the Chicago Tribune reports the NATO summit will focus on missile defense systems, forming alliances with non-NATO countries and ending the Afghanistan war.

Meanwhile, White House officials also attempted to address any negative feedback President Barack Obama might endure from the summits and their protests during an election year. Rhodes acknowledged that protests follow NATO and G8 summits everywhere and said the administration volunteered to host them, regardless of the upcoming election. He added “We kind of factor that into the equation. We always know there are going to be security challenges…We are confident that Chicago has more than the capability to deal with that.”