Agent’s Shoving of Black Bush Aide Probed

The Secret Service said Wednesday that it is investigating an incident in which an agent reportedly shoved Condoleezza Rice, a Soviet affairs specialist and one of the Bush Administration’s top-ranking blacks, as she was waiting in a line of dignitaries to say goodby to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Other staff members “came to the rescue” and intervened so she could return to her place in the farewell line at San Francisco International Airport on Monday evening, a White House official said.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that President Bush is “very upset about it. It’s most unfortunate. It should not have happened, and the Secret Service will take appropriate measures.”

When asked whether Rice’s race was a factor in the attempt to shove her out of the receiving line, Fitzwater replied: “We have no idea what the factors were.”

Rice, 35, a professor of political science at Stanford University before joining the White House staff last year, was not talking to reporters about the incident, White House officials said.

As a director of European and Soviet affairs on the National Security Council, she had been deeply involved in preparations for last week’s summit conference between Bush and Gorbachev. She flew to Minneapolis and then to San Francisco aboard an Air Force jet carrying officials responsible for coordinating Gorbachev’s cross-country tour.

Fitzwater refused to give details of the incident other than to tell reporters: “A Secret Service agent pushed Condi Rice. It’s as simple as that. You’ve all had it happen to you 100 times.”

Rice was wearing a White House identification pin and was said to have identified herself as a staff member.

Secret Service spokesman Bob Snow said the incident involved an agent from a field office rather than from the traveling protective detail.

Tensions arise in fast-moving campaign-style travel, causing mistakes of this type and occasionally prompting complaints, officials said.

“It was an unfortunate incident. We’ve talked with her. Our inspectors are looking into it,” Snow said. “Sometimes, these types of things occur and will occur in the future.”

“My hunch is (that) these guys get feisty when they have something significant to do and they get carried away,” said a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Johanna Neuman, a White House correspondent for USA Today and former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., said the association’s board of directors met repeatedly last year with the Secret Service to discuss the behavior of agents toward reporters traveling with the President.

However, she complained that the investigations failed to result in action.

“They were very receptive to taking the complaints and investigating them. They’d investigate them up and down. There were always reasons why the guy on the beat did what he did,” she said.