A false alarm triggered the evacuation of parts of the White House complex today after a suspicious car parked in the driveway attracted the attention of bomb-sniffing dogs.
The Secret Service ordered people to leave the northern side of the West Wing, where top White House staff work, but President Bush remained in the building's southern side, meeting aides on a balcony and then lunching with Vice President Dick Cheney in a dining room off the Oval Office.
"The vehicle has been rendered clear. The White House has returned to normal business," Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said.
White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer told reporters the roughly one-hour evacuation of parts of the West Wing had not affected Bush's schedule, saying the president had "full faith in the Secret Service to handle it and handle it well."
The suspicious car, which was parked in the driveway close to the White house's north-west gate, belonged to a participant in a Medicare event that Bush held in the Rose Garden this morning.
During a routine check of the driveway, the car drew the attention of a bomb-sniffing dog and prompted the Secret Service to call in its emergency ordinance disposal team to investigate.