Like all Presidential events at home, these were heavily scripted.

A relatively minor part of their assignment is to record Presidential events on video and audio tape for the archives.

Mr. Clinton has defended the agency's technicians, saying they were military professionals simply doing their job of preserving Presidential events on videotape.

But 20 minutes into his remarks, people began streaming out of the arena, an unusual spectacle at a Presidential event.

The Presidential inaugural events over those four days is expected to bring in some 45,000 visitors, according to the Washington Convention and Visitors Association.

These roles carry a wide variety of responsibilities, from critical military command and control missions to ceremonial duties at Presidential events.

Mr. Bogdanov said fire marshals had searched every building in the vicinity of a Presidential event.

Moving to quell community complaints, the White House apologized today for mishandling the choice of a student speaker at a Presidential event in Florida.

The conference was held directly under the auspices of the Presidency and constituted one of the Presidential events.

"You want people to feel, when they look up at the podium, that this is an American Presidential event," he said.