it is home to the most powerful person in the world
it is a center of global military power and it is one of the most heavily protected fortresses
ever built but behind the classic columns and lush green lawns are secrets
secrets so outrageous some systems we're installed post 911 but i don't want to i don't want to talk
about it so controversial they were right with the president and they hadn't even been invited
so dangerous the event that there might be a threat there are ways of moving the president
in the white house that they must be kept hidden from the public the white house is a mecca for
all these nuts who want to go after the president and so they will show up at the white house and
try to get in there are those who believe in the existence of a book
a book that contains the most highly guarded secrets of the united states of america a book
whose very existence is known to only a select few but if such a book exists what would it contain
secret histories secret plans secret lies does there really exist
america's book of secrets
it is the most public of private residences and the most private of public buildings
because while the white house serves as home and office for each american president
it is also home to the first family the best way to describe it is it's like living in a museum
it's kind of hard to to feel comfortable to make it your own
the hardest adjustment is the press and the comings and the goings for me to get from the
house to my dad's office you have to walk by the press room it was people always knowing where you
are and what you're doing and notifying people i used to walk by the white house just like you
or i would and look through those bars those gates and wonder what the heck they do in there
and all of a sudden 10 months later i find myself standing there because my dad's becoming president
of the united states didn't make any sense the nixons left so quickly so unexpectedly
i mean the resignation was unexpected at that time and they didn't have time to pack up all
their belongings and their clothes so that night we had to go back to our little house
in alexandria virginia and we lived in that house for the first six seven days of dad's presidency
little preparation can be given for the radical changes the first family will face
while living at the white house especially when it comes to the loss of privacy you might walk
by one of the tours as you're coming in they might be going by and going to the east room or the blue
room or something like that and you would see him and i a lot of times i stop shake hands say hello
you know it's your home but you're also welcoming the public
i think people would be surprised by so the private white house is a very
artificial place presidents don't get a lot of privacy presidents are sort of living a very
a very abnormal existence so you wonder how they they cope with this some do better than others
when the classic stories about that you know that realness of this is what happens my parents had
a golden retriever liberty and one night liberty woke dad up and had to go to the bathroom so dad
put his bathrobe on over his pajamas came down the family elevator the first floor of the white house
went out i think it was a diplomatic entrance and here it is like two o'clock in the morning
it takes a dog out to do its business like any husband has to do in their own home he
gets ready to go back in and the door's locked and the secret service don't know he's out there
and here's the president of the united states at two in the morning standing there in his pajamas
trying to get his dog back in the house and the door's locked
i think of us as who've lived there as a as a fraternity or a sorority or a club we don't know
everybody you don't get to know them very well but you have secrets that only you can tell each other
to ensure the safety of the first family every aspect of their daily needs is monitored
including the food they eat and the gifts they receive the food that goes into the white house
is is screened at a remote site before it ever gets to the white house itself
so a lot of precautions are taken to ensure that whatever meals or whatever food that's going to be
provided at the white house is thoroughly screened if food comes as a gift unless it's from someone
who's a very close friend or family member the secret service will just throw it away and i think
you know even even friends and family learn that they shouldn't bring food into the white house
protecting those who live and work at the white house extends not only to the food they eat
but also to the very air they breathe in the white house itself when people enter they're
automatically put through not only of course metal detection but also detection of radiological
devices the air in the white house is filtered the air in the white house also is increased
in pressure so that if there is some biological element introduced it'll be expelled the west wing
has radiation detectors and i know this because when i was giving a west wing tour secret service
i believe got a silent alarm or something came in over their ear pieces and they locked down the
area that we were in and they said that someone had brought in some form of radiation and they
needed to figure out what it was before anyone was allowed to move forward or leave the area
it turned out that someone was going through radiation therapy but i found that
really interesting to learn that they have
those type of security things that they don't just advertise even to all staff
of course the white house is not only the chief executive's home and office it is also a command
center for nearly 1700 employees who come to work there every day but before anyone works for
the president or his family they must be cleared through a background check known as yankee white
everybody who gets cleared into the white house permanently as a regular
thing has to go through a secret secure clearance process to look into your background and so on
when i first was asked to be an intern we were told to fill out a form called an sf-86
which basically is where they ask you every single little detail about your life more than
you ever could remember and you're going through old pictures old notes being like oh my gosh what
was that address 10 years ago and oh what date did i go on that trip and then the fbi goes around and
investigates to make sure everything on that sf-86 is accurate and true they interview your friends
your family your neighbors your old bosses to make sure that they know every single thing about you
but once employed can the white house staff and personnel go anywhere within the building or are
there secrets so highly prized and highly guarded that only a handful of the most trusted employees
can have access to them there are pins that people use that have on their lapels in addition to the
to the badges that people might see on tv images the pins are the most prized because you can get
the close access is the family badge where you can get pretty much all the access that's what
the first lady would wear those the children and so on and some very senior staff members
but if white house employees are so thoroughly checked and monitored
how do visitors and members of the public get in how hard is it to visit the white house
and what kind of security is required to protect the world's most powerful person
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