WASHINGTON — Pictures of President Clinton slow-dancing with his wife on the beach, frolicking with his puppy in the Caribbean surf and affectionately hugging his daughter and wife provide some of the warmest family pictures of his five years in office.
But White House press officials are fuming. They charge that the surreptitious video footage and still photos--taken by photographers lurking in bushes about 100 yards away from where Clinton was relaxing during his brief vacation late last week in the Virgin Islands--are an invasion of the first family's privacy.
Clinton, when asked Monday about the pictures, agreed that his privacy was violated, but added he couldn't help but appreciate the photograph of himself and his wife dancing in what he had assumed was an intimate moment away from the public's eye.
"I like it quite a lot, but I didn't think I was being photographed," Clinton said about the picture of him and Hillary Rodham Clinton in an embrace, wearing bathing suits.
For some, the access gained by the photographers raised questions about the president's security. For others it sparked concern about the ethics of photojournalism, particularly in the wake of the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The White House stressed that the president's safety was not jeopardized. The Secret Service was aware of the presence of the photographers but decided they did not pose a threat, officials said.
"I think the president is confident that he's well protected by the Secret Service," White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said. "I think if there had been any security threat they would have attended to it appropriately."
But an outside security analyst said the incident implies a worrisome breach of security. "The rule of thumb is that if you can take a picture from a position you can also snipe from there," said Neil Livingstone, a terrorism consultant for Washington-based Knoll Associates.
For the White House press office, the main issue is the first family's right to privacy, and officials threatened to provide less access to them in the future.
"We believed--I guess incorrectly--that the people who traveled with us would have more respect for their privacy than they did," steamed Deputy Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, who was on the trip. "It's somewhat surprising that people were resorting to hiding behind the bushes. It resembles people trying to cover Madonna's wedding, not people trying to cover the president of the United States."
