Public Diplomacy: How Much Do a President's Foreign Trips Cost the Taxpayer?

As I read the below informative article, one question continued to intrigue me: Why are Secret Service expenditures for a presidential trip "classified"? Does the SS have something to hide -- from the American taxpayer (oh so sorry, I meant terrorists)?

I would suggest to Public Diplomacy Scholars in US graduate schools to examine closely the costs of presidential visits -- and compare them to what our government spends for, say, USG international educational and cultural programs. That's the kind of research that might actually be noticed by intelligent decision-makers on Capitol Hill.

How much do Obama's foreign trips cost? - Josh Gerstein, Politico

A [...] thinly sourced report that President Barack Obama's upcoming trip to India is going to cost $200 million a day looks to be grossly inflated, but how much do presidential trips abroad actually cost?

That answer isn't quite as secret as the White House and some press reports would have you believe.

An article Tuesday from the Press Trust of India reported the "whopping $200 million a day" figure, quoting an unnamed state government official in India. "The huge amount of around USD 200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the presidential visit," the official said, according to the PTI story which was picked up by Matt Drudge.

“The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told my colleague Laura Rozen in an-emailed statement. "Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs [my highlight], but it’s safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated.”

"The costs are comparable to when President Clinton or President Bush traveled abroad," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. "This trip doesn’t cost $200 million a day," Gibbs added later.

"White Houses never disclose costs for trips bc so much of the money is for security [my highlight], but White House official calls the figure 'wildly inflated,'" ABC's Jake Tapper tweeted Wednesday.

However, about a decade ago, the General Accounting Office released two fairly detailed reports on President Bill Clinton's foreign travels (view them here and here). Secret Service costs were omitted as classified [my highlight], but other government expenses were tallied up. A Clinton trip to six countries in Africa in 1998 rang up at $42.8 million, most of that for military aircraft costs. A trip to Chile came in at $10.5 million. A trip to China that year cost $18.8 million.

GAO (now the Government Accountability Office) had numbers on travelers, too. Government agencies paid for about 1300 people on the Clinton Africa trip, excluding Secret Service personnel [my highlight].

When Clinton went to Chile, the government picked up the tab for 600 people. And there were 500 paid travelers in connection with the China trip. (The government does not pay for press travel costs or those of business leaders but does pay for advance aides who are sometimes volunteers [my highlight].)

I'd like to post some details on President George W. Bush trips, but I can't find any GAO reports on them [my highlight].

As someone who's been on dozens of presidential trips abroad under the past three presidents, here's my take on the PTI story. The Obama entourage could easily fill the 507 rooms at the Taj Mahal Hotel, if you consider the traveling party, American business leaders, the press, the advance staff, State Department personnel, military and Secret Service. The White House is denying booking out the hotel.

But, whatever the case, the idea of a 3,000-person entourage seems nuts to me. That said, there is some staffing bloat on these trips: Sometimes one finds State Department staff from far-flung posts assigned to make xeroxes or give advice to the press on cities the employees know nothing about.

In other reaction to the PTI report, Rep. Michele Bachmann is outraged about it. FactCheck says "false" and "hard to swallow." I'd go with "likely untrue" and "unsupported."

On Thursday, sarcastic White House officials pushed back further against the PTI report and Bachmann's mention of it.

"Heard about how the President’s trip to Asia cost $200 quadrillion per hour? Not true as it turns out ," the tweet from the official White House account said, linking to a blog post from Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.

UPDATE: This post has been updated with an additional quote from Gibbs.

UPDATE 2: This post has been updated with additional information which travelers go at government expense and which don't.

UPDATE 3: This post has been updated with the White House tweet and blog post.