The Flinchum File

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Protecting Presidents

It was 1969 that I was selected for a particular mission. We were told to report, of all places (?), to Fort Gulick in the American Canal Zone. When we arrived, we signed papers that said we would never disclose what we learned from the classified documents we would see. Punctual as always, the briefer and the documents arrived exactly on time. (We were even given the urine analysis of a famous person??) Afterwards, the documents were taken from us, and we never saw them again.

Of course, Presidents have their prerogatives, and I accept that, but is there no middle ground? Why can’t we build, at taxpayer expense, a SCIF inside every presidential home? Sure, it’s expensive but no more so than trusting the human nature of presidents, which is apparently no different than the human nature of soldiers.