David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/6/08 3:30 p.m.

Here is something that I have always wondered. Just before a new president takes office, do you think that they brief him on some of the weird things that he should know about? I picture the president elect in a room with some officials, each one giving a very quick brief:

Area 51? Yes, we really have aliens there.

Bigfoot? That's just Jim in a furry suit.

Elvis? Living in Montana.

Aliens in Roswell? Totally happened.

Loch Ness monster? Our intel says it's just a hoax.

Salanis
Salanis SuperDork
11/6/08 3:32 p.m.

Yeah, but the presidential candidates are all selected from the inner circles of the same vast inter-continental conspiracy for total world control. So they already know those things already.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
11/6/08 3:38 p.m.

I have wondered the same thing. I'm thinking he also has to be told about hush hush operations around the world and cautioned that if he spills it people will die.

rebelgtp
rebelgtp HalfDork
11/6/08 3:48 p.m.

Yeah that would be an interesting briefing listen in on. I'm sure that there are many interesting little details that you don't find out until after you have been sworn in. Its almost an intriguing enough thought to go into politics to give it a go....but then you would have to deal with other politicians. I imagine there might really be some sort of "book of secrets" that is passed from president to president, things that are deemed as information for the presidents eyes only.

Also yeah there would have to be a telling of some of those hush hush operations that are happening.

92dxman
92dxman Reader
11/6/08 3:52 p.m.

I read an article that starting today or tomorrow, he already gets security debriefings and also the spy satellite composite images..

Hasbro
Hasbro HalfDork
11/6/08 3:53 p.m.

A lot of the briefing has already started.

P71
P71 GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
11/6/08 4:03 p.m.

You almost have to wonder if there's a "little black book" in the Oval Office desk that President's write down stuff for other ones. The notes that such a book may contain are just mind-blowing...

SVreX
SVreX SuperDork
11/6/08 4:05 p.m.

Both Obama and McCain and members of their staff were cleared for security clearances in advance. That way, immediately after the election, one or the other of them could begin receiving the top secret security briefings.

Mr. Obama and about 100 of his staff members were pre-approved.

This morning was the first time he received a security briefing. It's the same one Mr. Bush receives daily. Mr. Biden is also authorized to receive it.

This is the first time it has ever been done this way. Sign of just how bad the times are, I guess.

Salanis
Salanis SuperDork
11/6/08 4:13 p.m.
P71 wrote: You almost have to wonder if there's a "little black book" in the Oval Office desk that President's write down stuff for other ones. The notes that such a book may contain are just mind-blowing...

I bet there was a "little black book" in Oval Office during the Clinton administration.

oldsaw
oldsaw New Reader
11/6/08 4:36 p.m.
SVreX wrote: Both Obama and McCain and members of their staff were cleared for security clearances in advance. That way, immediately after the election, one or the other of them could begin receiving the top secret security briefings. Mr. Obama and about 100 of his staff members were pre-approved. This morning was the first time he received a security briefing. It's the same one Mr. Bush receives daily. Mr. Biden is also authorized to receive it. This is the first time it has ever been done this way. Sign of just how bad the times are, I guess.

As I understand it, President Bush was the first to actually request that the daily briefing be delivered by the department head; he didn't want anything watered-down and to personally get to know the source.

Kudos to the Bush administration for knowing the next president needs a head-start in prepping for the office.

Oh, btw, Obama won't get the nuclear codes until he's sworn in. I'd guess he's going to get a lot more intel that we'll never know, or want to, at the same time. We're going to see a young man age quickly in his first term.

16vCorey
16vCorey Dork
11/6/08 4:41 p.m.
Bill Hicks wrote: ...No matter what promises you make on the campaign trail - blah, blah, blah - when you win, you go into this smoky room with the twelve industrialist, capitalist scumberkeleys that got you in there, and this little screen comes down... and it's a shot of the Kennedy assassination from an angle you've never seen before, which looks suspiciously off the grassy knoll.... And then the screen comes up, the lights come on, and they say to the new president, 'Any questions? What's my agenda?
David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/6/08 5:00 p.m.

I'm thinking more like the really, really cool stuff--not the regular security briefings. For example, is Walt Disney's head really somewhere inside Disney World? Is Kim Jong Il really a robot? Stuff like that.

P71
P71 GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
11/6/08 6:00 p.m.

Dr. Zoidberg really was the Roswell alien.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
11/6/08 6:06 p.m.
P71 wrote: Dr. Zoidberg really was the Roswell alien.

That is true. And Fry is really his own grandfather.

jpod999
jpod999 Reader
11/6/08 7:01 p.m.

Anyone ever seen the movie National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets? It has that "Little Black Book" in it. Obviously it's just a movie but it kind of makes sense that something like that is actually in existence.

walterj
walterj HalfDork
11/6/08 7:12 p.m.

The presidents 1st day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdaRuTwWl9I

rebelgtp
rebelgtp HalfDork
11/6/08 7:16 p.m.
jpod999 wrote: Anyone ever seen the movie National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets? It has that "Little Black Book" in it. Obviously it's just a movie but it kind of makes sense that something like that is actually in existence.

I've talked to the guy that made the "book" in that movie.

ManofFewWords
ManofFewWords New Reader
11/6/08 7:42 p.m.

I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to get dubya to spill the beans.

Xceler8x
Xceler8x GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
11/6/08 9:26 p.m.

"Is that really Marilyn Monroe's bra?!"

I would imagine the briefings go something like that.

Also...

"Lincoln slept with dudes! In this bed? You're sh!tting me..."

Kramer
Kramer Reader
11/7/08 11:51 a.m.

"Right here is the place where Monica performed..."

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
11/7/08 12:06 p.m.

"... and it was tough getting the kneeprints and stains out of the carpet."

Xceler8x
Xceler8x GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
11/7/08 12:10 p.m.
Jensenman wrote: "... and it was tough getting the kneeprints and stains out of the carpet."

That's exactly what I envision.

"Here's the tunnel Kennedy used to get his "ladies of the evening" out. We called it the The Underground Railed Road."

Another one...

"Here's the Skull And Bones shrine. I trust you'll be here a lot Mr Harvard Graduate."

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/8/08 2:40 a.m.

And what ever you do, don't push this button

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