Grenade Thrown at Bush Speech Was Live, Failed to Function

The FBI has contradicted Georgian officials who had said that the grenade, discovered at the site of a speech by President Bush, was inert. From Yahoo! News:

TBILISI, Georgia - A grenade hurled in a crowd during last week's speech by President Bush in the Georgian capital was capable of exploding and was considered a threat against the president, the FBI said Wednesday.

In Washington, the White House spokesman said Secret Service agents in Georgia were examining whether security changes were needed, noting that some people were seen getting around metal detectors at Bush's May 10 speech.

The FBI statement contradicted initial reports by Georgian officials that the Soviet-era grenade was found on the ground, was inactive and posed no danger to Bush.

The grenade, wrapped in a dark handkerchief, fell about 100 feet from the podium where Bush was speaking and "simply failed to function," FBI agent Bryan Paarmann said.

The Secret Service should not be "whether security changes [are] needed", that's a given. They should be deciding what security changes are needed. The President should not have appeared if, as stated in the article, people were observed bypassing metal detectors.