In this car ride a few command officers of the local police department, and it is their job to make sure that the traffic is stopped as it was planned to be, look out for any disturbances, and in general be a front guard for the motorcade.
Mr. McCloy. Do you have a communications system with the Secret Service agents for this pilot car?
Mr. Lawson. Yes, sir; because the next car in the motorcade is what we call a lead car and it is actually a rolling command car. We try to have a command officer from every jurisdiction of police with a radio net of their own in that vehicle. Sometimes if you are in an area where there are State police and local police and sheriff's and quite a few jurisdictions, where it is a long motorcade and you are going through various counties you are not able to have a command officer of every jurisdiction in that.
But in Dallas the lead ear, the car that I was in directly ahead of the President was a police car, and of course it had a radio that was in contact with the pilot car and any other radio on the police net. In addition to that, I had a portable radio on the Secret Service White House network.
Mr. McCloy. Was there a Secret Service agent riding in the pilot car?
Mr. Lawson. No sir; there was not.
Mr. McCloy. The first Secret Service agent was——
Mr. Lawson. In the lead car.
Mr. McCloy. Was in the lead car. I don't know whether you want to—I have got to leave. Are you going to ask why they didn't go down Main Street?
Mr. Stern. Yes.