[conspire] Something hilarious happened in Internet Security???

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> Since then I havebeen contrasting the pictures on the television with
> my memories of a trip in 199?. The first morning, the family wanted to
> see the White House.  We should have contacted our Representative to get
> tickets before hand. With a little effort we were able to get tickets
> for that afternoon. 

Might as well tell my White House story.

During the George H.W. Bush administration, I designed and tested for my
employer, Blyth Software, a trade-show setup of a LAN and computers to
use all across North America to demonstrate and sell the firm's database
and SQL-frontend software suite, Omnis 7.  It consisted of three PowerPC
Macs, three MS-Windows PCs, and a NetWare 3.12 server running Oracle and
Sybase, connected via 10Base-T and a cheap hub.  Although I made it
highly reliable other than the usual vulnerability shipping damage that
ejected cards from sockets, the firm elected to fly me around to the
first few trade shows, so I could be on hand in case of problems.

And I think the very first such show was to be in DC.  A dozen of us
technical employees and sales beings were in cattle class on a flight
out of SFO, and the two gals from Marketing were in business class.  The
lead marketroid, Linda Cyganek, was in particular what could be called
lissome, and she was talked up across the continent by a gentleman
who in due course identified himself as a US Secret Service agent.  He
wanted to see them again, and so offered them a behind-the-scenes tour
of the White House.  They said they'd be thrilled, but asked if they
could bring a few co-workers along.  He said "How many?", they walked
over and pointed us out, he laughed, and he agreed.

Prior to the appointed day, we had to submit proof of identity (e.g., I
had the agent just photocopy my passport), so that we could be vetted 
before we could attend.  All of us passed scrutiny, so we showed up at a
side guard shack, and they checked us in, one at a time, against the
list, and carefully stayed close to our guide, the agent.

He was able to show us practically the entire White House except for the
residence, which is in the East Wing and could be approached by walking
past a pair of posted Marines in the corridor who we understood to be
taking their job seriously and were to be not messed with in any way.

We were able to stand and lean inwards at the doorway of the
(then-empty) Oval Office, but were politely asked to not step inside.
We could approach the short corridor and closed door leading to the
Situation Room (ex-War Room), but again, told, no, don't even think of
trying to go in.

I can confirm what many people have said, that the spacious offices
shown in the TV show "The West Wing" would be a luxury that the staffers
can only dream of.  The real West Wing staff space is a cramped warren.
And the White House Briefing Room (lately named the James S. Brady Press
Briefing Room, and built under Nixon to replace FDR's indoor swimming pool)
is rather surprisingly small.  Naturally we all took turns standing at
the lectern and doing what would later be called our C.J. Cregg acts.  I
see the place got renovated in 2007, but the photos look about the same.

One of the last stops was a low-key one that really left an impression:
We stopped in the small Secret Service post in the basement, and our
guide let us leaf briefly through the day's security-incidents
clipboard.  It was by then not even noon, and there were dozens of terse
sheets about raving loons who had breached the White House security
perimeter, usually by hopping the fence and ambling towards the mansion
before being tackled and taken off for psychiatric evaluation.  The
White House, you see, is a permanent magnet for the insane.

Supply your own punch line.


And yes, I too remember being able to just walk right into, and around,
the Capitol Building, with no restrictions.  I remember we got Senate
gallery tickets from Sen. Alan Cranston's office, and House gallery
tickets from, probably, Rep. Ron Dellums's office.