Secret Service reveals NATO security perimeter - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

The Secret Service revealed the security perimeter in a meeting Tuesday afternoon with protestors and their lawyers. Sources close to the Service, though, tell FOX Chicago News the plan is still subject to change, and that shut downs on Lake Shore Drive and the Stevenson Expressway will likely last only a few hours, not the entire summit weekend.

Former Agent Tom Kasza protected several American Presidents and stays in regular contact with his former colleagues in the Secret Service. He was surprised that protest organizers revealed the security boundaries they were shown in a meeting with top officials.

"Road closures will be at the very last minute," said Kasza. "And hopefully they will be sporadic throughout the entire thing, depending on which high level protectees or high-level heads of state are there and when our President's there."

Within the next few weeks, though, fencing and other devices will start going up near of Mercy Hospital and the Stevenson Expressway, just south of McCormick Place, where President Obama will host leaders of the NATO military alliance. Noting that protestors want to register their loud opposition to the Afghanistan War, Mayor Emanuel argued they should also acknowledge what the President has changed.

"While I'm not in the business of doing what I used to do in the White House, I would like everybody to know that when they come here, NATO's actually going to be talking about disengagement and a change of policy in Afghanistan. Fundamental difference, " Mayor Emanuel said.

The mayor's comment drew only scorn from one longtime protest organizer.

"We fully expect the Obama Administration to make some grand pronouncements at the summit about the light being at the end of the tunnel for the Afghanistan War," protest organizer Andy Thayer said. "And I use that phrase specifically. It was the same thing we heard during the Vietnam War."