All language subtitles for the.presidents.book.of.secrets.2010.1080p.web.h264-grashopr_track3_[eng]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: He is the most
powerful person in the world.

He commands the greatest
military in history.

And every public move he makes
is recorded and analyzed.

I shall resign the presidency,
effective at noon tomorrow.

NARRATOR: But in an era where
almost nothing can be kept

private, does the president of
the United States have secrets?

Information so forbidden,
so potentially dangerous

that it must be kept
hidden from the public?

There's some things that you
don't want to put in writing

any more than you have to.

We keep lots of secrets.

We keep an amazing
number of secrets.

There are absolutely
presidential secrets

that have never been revealed.

NARRATOR: But if there are
secrets, where would they

be kept?

In a computer, a safe,
a locked briefcase?

And who else, if anyone, could
be trusted to share them?

There are things
that George Bush 41

and I know that not too
many other people know.

NARRATOR: There are those
who believe in the existence

of a book, a book that
contains the topmost secrets

of the United States of
America, a book passed down

from one president to another
in a nearly unbroken chain that

extends all the way back to
the beginning of the nation's

highest office, and
whose content is known

to only five living persons.

But does such a book exist?

Is there really a
president's book of secrets?

JOHN ROBERTS: Are you prepared
to take the oath, senator?

BARACK OBAMA: I am.

JOHN ROBERTS: I,
Barack Hussein Obama.

I, Barack Hussein Obama.

do solemnly swear.

NARRATOR: On January 20th, 2009,
Chief Justice of the Supreme

Court John Roberts
administered the oath of office

to President-elect Barack Obama.

So help you God?

So help me God.

Congratulations,
Mr. President.

[cheering]

NARRATOR: Later that day, upon
arriving in the Oval Office,

the nation's 44th president
discovers a single envelope

atop his desk.

Addressed to 44, it
contains a personal message

from the outgoing
president, George W. Bush.

But when asked about the
letter, President Obama

declines to reveal its contents.

But why?

What could have been
so important, so

confidential that only another
president's eyes could behold

the letter's contents?

Did it involve matters
of national security?

Did it contain critical
information about the economy?

Or much, much more?

Some have even speculated that
there is in fact an entire book

filled with such secret
informationm, a so-called book

of secrets passed on from
one president to another.

If so, what would be in it?

From election to inauguration,
President-elect Barack Obama

had only 78 days to prepare
himself to take office.

But how did he get up to speed?

Did he have help from a
secret book left behind

by his predecessor?

Or was the intelligence he
received from less audacious

and more conventional sources?

A lot of it is told
orally, and understandably

and rightfully so.

There are some things that you
don't want to put in writing

any more than you have to.

The ones that were probably
the most interesting, ones

where they said, OK,
well, let me just tell you

some other things that we know.

They didn't really want
to put that down on paper.

NARRATOR: In the weeks before
the inauguration, former CIA

director Michael Hayden briefed
President-elect Obama regarding

ongoing covert activity
by the United States

against its foreign enemies.

I began by saying,
Mr. President-elect,

these have all been personally
authorized by the president.

But they are not authorized by
the person of the president.

They are authorized by the
Office of the President.

So Mr. President, unless you
tell us to stop something,

the afternoon after
you've been sworn in,

we'll still be
doing all of these.

That's called the
attention getting

step, when you do the
briefing, and then I walked him

through it.

Quite frankly, you know
things from briefings

that you didn't know before.

The size of the debt,
the threat from overseas,

the amount of terrorists
may be in the country.

Things that you know on the
surface from your briefings

but when you're down to the
depth of you say, holy smokes,

I wish I'd known that
during the campaign.

It's one thing to
be the candidate.

It's another to have your finger
on the button, as they say.

NARRATOR: But no matter how well
briefed or thoroughly informed,

few incoming presidents are
prepared for just what they

will learn on inauguration day.

Only then will he or she
have unlimited access

to all classified
documents, answers

to almost any national security
question they might have.

But how might this
new secret knowledge

affect the president's
policies and priorities?

And could this be
the real reason

for the marked differences
between the rhetoric

of a presidential candidate--

Read my lips.

No new taxes.

We will start
getting the work.

We will close Guantanamo.

NARRATOR: --and the rhetoric of
a president, who now has access

to more sophisticated
government intelligence.

You elect a president
because of vision.

He has a view of the world.

He has a view of where he
wants to take the world.

Sometimes that view
is not consistent

with the intelligence officer's
view of the world as it is.

The greatest
example I can imagine

is a person who ascended
to the presidency

by death, Harry Truman,
who upon becoming president

learned that there
was an atomic bomb.

Harry Truman as
vice president did not

know that we had
built the atomic bomb.

When he became president, was
being briefed on the scale

of the weapon and
the potential power

it had, and he literally
knew nothing about it.

You think it changed
his thinking about how

we wage the war?

You bet.

I often wonder what
he said to his wife

when he went back in
the family quarters

just after he learned that.

NARRATOR: Today, the
president has a unique handle

on the nuclear arsenal.

Everywhere he goes, he's
accompanied by a military aide

who carries a 45 pound briefcase
known as the nuclear football.

It's seen in
pictures all the time.

It's a black kind of
doctor looking briefcase

that I used to say contained
a tuna sandwich and a Playboy

magazine.

What's in it is
highly classified.

But what it does is it allows
the president as the commander

in chief to be connected to
the National Military Command

Center and those force
commanders who must respond

to an order to initiate
a nuclear action.

NARRATOR: Officially known
as the president's emergency

satchel, the nuclear football
was initiated in the 1950s

by President Dwight Eisenhower.

The Cold War drove
a lot of things

that the president
did over the years.

One of them was dealing
with a surprise attack

by the Soviet Union, a bolt from
the blue, missiles on the way.

Our retaliatory strategy
was massive retaliation

during most of that time,
mutually assured destruction.

According to the Constitution,
the president of the United

States is the person who
would make that decision.

And so there was a
notion that something

that the president had
to have the capability

to make that decision
anywhere and everywhere

and at all times.

Forget about togetherness
between the president

and his wife.

The real togetherness is between
the president and the carrier

of the nuclear football that
contains the nuclear codes.

NARRATOR: During his
transition, the President-elect

is briefed on how
to use the codes.

Then during the
inauguration, the military

readies two cases,
one each for both

the outgoing and
incoming presidents.

This serves to both
immediately transfer power

and to deter any
surprise attacks.

Now let's say there's
a report of some kind

of a nuclear attack
on the United States.

They open the football.

There is this complicated list
of all the various options

the president has, from all
out launching everything

and destroying the world,
to a surgical attack,

to using tactical weapons.

And the president has got to
absorb all this information

in literally a matter of
minutes and decide what to do.

NARRATOR: But while a new
president comes into office

knowing he will receive the
nuclear codes, is he in fact

the only person who can
authorize a nuclear attack?

In theory, no nuclear
weapon, in theory,

could be launched without
the president's say so.

In practice, there
was delegation

in the case of the ballistic
missile submarines.

Because submarines could not be
reached all the time reliably,

had authority to act
independently in reality.

Although this is a
very delicate subject.

NARRATOR: Fortunately,
since World War II,

no president has authorized
the use of nuclear weapons

against an enemy target.

But what if the
unthinkable does happen

and the military is
caught off guard?

Just what are the president's
plans for his and the country's

survival?

Could they be found in an
actual book of secrets?

In the event of a
national emergency,

it is likely that our
president's book of secrets

would contain information
concerning hidden bunkers,

secret escape routes,
and destinations designed

to protect the chief executive,
his family, and key members

of his administration.

Such information would have
been essential on September 11,

2001, when a team of terrorists
hijacked four airliners,

piloting two of them into
the towers of the World Trade

Center in New York.

A third into the Pentagon.

And the fourth allegedly
targeting the Capitol building

in Washington DC.

The last two planes
were still in the air

when President George
W. Bush, while visiting

with schoolchildren in Florida,
was informed of the attack,

and soon after escorted
to Air Force One.

I was traveling with
President Bush all day

on September 11th as well.

And we took off.

Probably the
quickest takeoff I'd

ever experienced
on Air Force One.

Suffice it to say that there are
plans and protocols for a lot

of contingencies, so
we knew that we were

going to one of several places.

NARRATOR: With the government
of the United States apparently

under siege, staff
at the White House

also responded to the news.

I was having breakfast with
a colleague in the White House

mess in the basement
of the West Wing lobby.

At that point, then
we gathered the staff.

We just told them to run,
run out of the complex

as fast as you can.

NARRATOR: But while the staff
were ordered to evacuate,

Secret Service agents quickly
escorted Vice President Dick

Cheney and several
high ranking officials

to a hidden bunker below
the White House known

as the President's Emergency
Operation Center or PEOC.

It's in the East
Wing basement.

It's an old World
War II bomb shelter

with a great big heavy
door, full of bunks,

and canned foods, and
canned water, and all that.

Cheney and Condi Rice
and a few other people

rode out the storm
on 9/11 in the PEOC.

NARRATOR: But what if the
president's home and office

had been threatened?

Are there methods or avenues
of escape from the White House

itself?

And could this information be
outlined in a book of secrets?

I was very surprised to
learn the quick routes that

needed to be taken in
case of an emergency.

And not something
that I can discuss,

but there are ways that
the president can be moved

from point A to point B
very quickly in an emergency

situation.

There is a back staircase from
the second floor of the White

House to the third floor
of the White House.

And the door was hidden
and painted into the wall.

There was no doorknob.

You just touched the
door and it opened.

And then there's also
tunnels from the White House

under the Treasury building
to get out on the other side.

And so I would use the
tunnels and get out that way

so I didn't have to
go out the front gate.

There were evacuation plans.

They give you a yellow pouch,
probably about yay big,

and it actually turns into a
gas mask in case of there's

any type of chemical attack,
or biological attack, anything

that's airborne that could
threaten the individual.

So they give you that.

It's supposed to help you
breathe for long enough

to get out of the city.

We were all responsible for
knowing what we were supposed

to do in an emergency.

And you had regular briefings
and updates to make sure

that you knew because
it could happen.

It could happen any moment.

There are other
places around town,

but it's pretty
sensitive, their location

and their capabilities.

I really can't talk about it.

We know that not far
from Washington DC,

there are major
underground facilities.

There's one in Virginia in
the Shenandoah Mountains known

as the Mount Weather
facility, which apparently

is an entire underground city.

And of course, there is another
command post in Colorado.

And I would guess
there are probably

hundreds of these secure
locations around the country

to which the president
could be brought.

NARRATOR: Could there
really be hundreds

of these secret bunkers spread
out across the United States?

And if so, are they all kept
ready to secure the president's

safety at a moment's notice?

The very first thing
you need is isolation.

You need to be isolated
from the threat.

If the threat gets to you,
the facility is of no use.

Once you've isolated the person,
the very next thing you need

is purified clean air.

If you have enough
food, and enough water,

and enough utilities, then
you can last indefinitely.

The safety isn't
in the fortress.

The safety is in no one
knowing where you are.

NARRATOR: But no matter how safe
these bunkers are, according

to security experts,
the book of secrets

would probably indicate that it
is even safer for a president

to stay on the move.

Part of they're getting
ready for any terrible occasion

like that, it means getting
transportation plans available.

Those are all scheduled
ahead of time.

It's all classified and should
not be discussed publicly.

But the systems are there.

They have to work perfectly
and work immediately.

So I can tell you with
firsthand experience

because I stood in
for the president

on one of those drills.

I got into the
presidential helicopter

and flew to a secret location in
the mountains near Camp David.

We landed and refueled
the helicopter by hand.

We had a crank pump and a
55 gallon barrel of av-gas,

and then we took off again.

And we circled around and
finally landed at the airport

in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

And the tower had
closed the airport.

And sitting at the end of the
runway was this big white 747.

And we scrambled up
the nose wheel ladder

into the main cabin.

And I sat down on this great
big leather chair with president

on the back.

And they said, what are
your orders, Mr. President?

And I said, well,
let's get out of here.

And I'm telling you, they hit
the thrust on those engines

and we took off like a rocket.

And it was a great fun.

And we landed at
Andrews Air Force Base.

And I went back to my office
and my illusions of grandeur

sort of faded away.

NARRATOR: But what if despite
the existence of emergency

escape plans and regular
drills, neither the president

nor the vice president survive a
catastrophic attack on America?

What happens to the government
of the United States

if Washington DC is
actually wiped out?

Most likely, the
president's book of secrets

would contain a chapter on a top
secret emergency program known

as the continuity of government,
designed to ensure that someone

is always in charge.

It starts with a very simple
premise, which is what if there

is a nuclear event or
a biological event,

and you eliminate the
leadership of the US government?

What happens?

I mean, how do you deal with it?

In a modern real time world,
with missiles and everything

else, how many minutes can
you spend not having somebody

in charge?

It's the continuity
of government.

It's the president, vice
president, speaker--

those are the three key people.

But there's a lot of other
continuity government.

You got the congressmen,
got your cabinet,

you got the military.

We have to be 1,000%
contact every single moment

of every single day.

That's the way it works
in all administrations.

NARRATOR: However, there
are even more secret parts

of this strategy that insiders
refer to as the doomsday plan.

In the event of
a nuclear attack,

three teams of
government officials

would be sent out
from Washington

to different locations.

Each team would be prepared
to assume leadership

of the country, and would
include a cabinet member who

was prepared to
become president.

So the executive branch
has taken it upon itself

to develop plans for a
doomsday scenario that are not

based in the Constitution.

There are plans to keep the
government and the country

going under martial law.

They're all extra
constitutional.

There's nothing in
the Constitution

and there's nothing in the
laws of the United States

to govern what would happen
under these kinds of doomsday

scenarios.

The Reagan administration
in particular

invested a great deal of money
in maintenance of continuity

of government.

But that was
against the Soviets.

We found all of a sudden in 2001
that we were up against a much

more complex opponent who
was much more likely to use

a chemical or biological
or nuclear weapon in a way

that we had never really
thought about before.

And so under President Bush,
there was a very serious effort

at rethinking
continuity of government

and putting money into it.

Well I held several positions
working for President Bush.

After Director of Advance, I ran
an office of cabinet affairs.

And part of that was interacting
with the president's cabinet,

who are all in the line of
succession for the presidency.

And part of that is getting
read into all those programs

and having the security
clearance to do that.

And there were many
times during the course

of my work in the White House
that I would have a hard time

going to sleep.

But I remember probably the
hardest time I'd gone to sleep

was the night after I had spent
2 and 1/2 hours being read

into that program.

And thinking, you know
look, I'm a staff person.

I just couldn't imagine
being the president

and have to be in
charge of all this.

It was pretty sobering.

NARRATOR: But underground
bunkers and doomsday plans

only serve as
defensive strategies.

What about the president's
military options?

What kinds of super
secret weapons

does he have at his disposal?

And could a book of secrets
suggest when and how

the most powerful man in America
might unleash the world's

deadliest forces?

In writing an entry
into a book of secrets,

would a President
include information

about secret briefings by
intelligence agencies in which

covert operations and highly
classified weapons systems

might be revealed?

Six days a week, the
nation's chief executive

chairs the National
Security Session,

where he is briefed on all the
intelligence issues threatening

the United States.

At each of these
meetings, CIA officers

pass along the President's
Daily Briefing, or PDB.

This top secret document
recounts and analyzes

what intelligence agents
are doing around the world.

You might think of it a
little bit like a magazine.

It's a small loose leaf
book, maybe 15 or 20 pages.

Not necessarily each
page a full length page.

Different articles that
covers various topics.

And I think depending
on the day of the week,

there would be an emphasis
on one kind of topic

rather than another.

It is not
relentlessly negative,

but it rarely celebrates life.

It's a book about the issues
and the problems of the day.

It can be anything from a very
specific tactical issue that

arises imminently
to something that's

a somewhat more long
term strategic look

at a particular problem.

Every Thursday, I went
to see the president.

In addition to the PDB,
I gave the president

an operational briefing
on what CIA was doing.

The majority of that
was covert action.

That's activity
designed to influence

foreign political
military economic events.

Occasionally, I would
actually talk about espionage.

Mr. President, we are
now able to do this.

We now have access to that.

Those of us who worked in
the field during the Cold War--

and I spent over 10
years in the field--

were aware that it
was quite possible--

and in some cases likely--

that the intelligence
that we were collecting

might well be on the president's
desk the following morning

and affect the course
of foreign affairs.

NARRATOR: To combat
potential problems,

the president has in
his arsenal a wide range

of secret intelligence weapons.

Among the most effective and
deadly of these in recent

years have been the drones.

These small remote
controlled planes

have been used extensively
during the wars in Iraq

and Afghanistan.

Drones have served both
as reconnaissance tools

and, because they can carry
a weapons payload, as killing

machines.

In fact, it can
get quite exotic.

Nowadays, they can look
at the feed from a drone

over Afghanistan in real time.

The military can type that
back to the White House.

And you can sit
there in the sit room

and watch what the
operator's watching.

NARRATOR: But in addition
to secret weapon systems,

wouldn't the president's
book of secrets

also include information
about top secret agencies?

Organizations that are
so clandestine that just

mentioning their names could get
a government worker arrested.

We've all heard of NASA.

Well, it turns out there's
another space agency as well,

which is called the National
Reconnaissance Office.

It was started in
the early 1960s

and the fact of its existence
wasn't made public until 1992.

So over 30 years, we had a
secret space agency whose very

existence was secret.

NARRATOR: The National
Reconnaissance Office

develops and operates a
series of spy satellites

that fly in low Earth orbit and
use advanced space and imaging

technologies.

There's a class of satellites
descended from something called

keyholes, which are essentially
photographic reconnaissance

satellites.

Giant cameras taking
pictures of the ground.

There's another class of optical
reconnaissance satellites

called the onyx system.

And what that does is something
called synthetic aperture

radar.

It shoots radar beams down
to the surface of the Earth

and collects them back to
create maps and images.

That allows you to
see through clouds.

It allows you to
see into the ground.

And it allows you
to see at night.

And indeed, military personnel
assigned to the onyx program

wear patches that
say we own the night.

Oftentimes, the
intelligence is very limited.

But there are other
times when they have

what's called actionable
intelligence, which means

intelligence of a quality that
it allows you to use a predator

drone to target a member
of the Al-Qaeda leadership.

President Obama has acted
on actionable intelligence

numerous times, and actually
ordered the killing of Al-Qaeda

leaders.

NARRATOR: The National
Reconnaissance Office also

operates massive eavesdropping
satellites that can actually

listen in to international phone
calls or intercept computer

communication.

These satellites suck up
all of the information that

is being routed through
communication satellites.

Years ago, when I was
representing Mohamed Al-Fayed

dealing with Princess
Diana's death,

NSA supposedly picked up
surveillance of the ambassador

to the United States from
Brazil's wife talking

to Princess Diana about certain
sexual dalliances that Princess

Diana was engaged in.

Now the NSA was not
secretly monitoring

Diana for the purpose
of trying to find out.

Apparently, they were
monitoring Brazil because

of sensitive
negotiations that were

going on with US-Brazil
issues and the rain forest.

The fact that information
was picked up by the NSA,

that information is some of the
most closely guarded secrets.

And it's the method of
communication or signals

intelligence that really is at
the heart of some of the most

key fundamental secrets
the United States has.

NARRATOR: But perhaps
the president's

most valuable intelligence
tool isn't located up in space

or across the Potomac River.

Just one floor below
the Oval Office

sits a room that is the heart
of the president's intelligence

operations.

Most people think
of the Situation Room

as a meeting room, but
it's really the president's

intelligence center.

And it was started in
1961 by John Kennedy

to allow him to know what
the rest of the government

knew at the same time.

Previous presidents had been
hostage to the state department

or defense or intelligence
for information.

And he realized during
the Cuban Missile Crisis

that he couldn't really run
the government unless he

had a more rapid arrival of
information at the White House.

Today, the president could not
do his job without the White

House Situation Room.

NARRATOR: For decades, the
Situation Room consisted

of two or three rooms crammed
with people and equipment.

But in 2007, during the
administration of George W.

Bush, it was expanded to 13
rooms, filled with the ultimate

in high tech, top secret, and
super secure communication

capabilities.

The largest of those rooms
has walls called whisper walls

to disallow ambient noise.

It has at the end
a knowledge wall

on which can be projected
pictures, and satellite

pictures, surveillance
pictures, and so forth.

Throughout the White
House Situation Room

you have a number of phone tubes
or we call them Superman tubes

with the capability to have
unclassified telephones as well

as top secret telephone.

If the president needs a
private moment, or anyone else,

he steps into the
director's office.

And they flip a switch and
it instantly fogs the glass

so it gives him more privacy.

NARRATOR: The
Situation Room also

contains a secret and secure
video conferencing system that

allows the president
to communicate face

to face with international
leaders, ambassadors,

and military commanders.

Every Wednesday,
President Bush

met by secure video
teleconference

with Prime Minister
Maliki or President

Karzai of Afghanistan.

President Bush used
to like to say,

I don't want to talk
to him on the phone.

I want to look him in the eye.

And then he was able to do
that in the new Situation Room.

NARRATOR: Today, the
Situation Room functions

as the president's global
information and response

center.

It's manned by military aides 24
hours a day, seven days a week.

95% of the
information that goes

to the president
on a daily basis

is funneled through
the Sit Room.

When the oil spill
in the Gulf started,

the Sit Room probably
became engaged immediately

and reporting on that routinely.

Even though it's not
in their portfolio,

the staff knows that it's
important to the presidency.

NARRATOR: But who or what
determines if something

as a crisis?

And will the protocols
for that decision

be contained in a
book of secrets?

It varies with
President to President,

but it all boils down to
recognizing what's a big deal

and what's not.

Reagan asked that only two
people contact him after hours,

and that was his chief of staff
and his head security advisor.

Whereas other presidents are
much more willing to talk

to most anybody.

I remember that President Bush
was awakened when Chief Justice

Rehnquist died.

And you would think that
that might be something

that you could wait til
the morning to tell him.

But the Supreme Court plays
such an important role

in the structure of our
country that President Bush

had to be told right away.

And so the chief of staff
has to make that decision on

whether or not they were
going to be wakened.

NARRATOR: Although the
White House has had decades

to learn how to deal effectively
with traditional threats,

in the 21st century, the
nation's enemies are not

so easy to detect or deter.

A cyber attack could seriously
compromise the nation's

financial, communications,
and military capabilities.

But does the president
have any secret means

to protect our most
classified information?

And could that
knowledge be found

pages of a book of secrets?

In the age of smartphones,
iPads, and Kindles,

might the information
contained in a president's book

of secrets now be stored,
retrieved, and even carried

around digitally?

Could this be the reason why
President Barack Obama is

rarely seen without
his BlackBerry?

And if so, might
the highly sensitive

communications
contained within it

be vulnerable to leaks
or even a cyber attack?

You could do it on an
iPad or something like that.

Then you have a security issues
because you'd want to make

sure nobody penetrated it.

I mean, I like technology,
but sometimes the plain old

fashioned pen and paper actually
work pretty effectively.

He is a very, very
connected president.

It's part of what
got him elected.

And he insisted on keeping his
portable communications device

with him.

As with any cell
phone, the moment

he speaks on it to whoever it is
and about whatever the subject

is, that can be intercepted
by people doing intercepts

of electronic communications.

And therefore, you have
the possibility, indeed

the probability that the
conversations of the President

of the United States would be
picked up by someone that we

don't want to pick it up.

Eventually, as
you might imagine,

the new president
of United States

is telling you to do something,
you figure out a solution,

which was to build an NSA
secured version of this device

so he's able to keep in
touch with a few people.

NARRATOR: Although President
Obama and others in the White

House staff received
secured phones,

the threat of these devices
falling into the wrong hands

is still a problem which
plagues the White House.

An iPhone like this-- and I'm
just holding it in my hand--

has the capacity of
approximately 1,750 copies

of all seven Harry
Potter novels.

It is an astonishing amount
of storage information.

If you start to think about
how much secret government

information could be kept
on one of these devices,

it starts to be astonishing.

You could have
secret access codes.

You could have directions
to undisclosed locations.

You could have so
much information,

and that's just if you
got a hold of the device.

Now there's a second
and much more scary

issue, if it falls
into enemy hands

and then is returned back
to its owner unchanged.

There is the ability to put
onto a smartphone in about

15 minutes a piece of software
that runs undetectably,

and turns a BlackBerry or
other smartphone into a very

dangerous surveillance device.

For example, there was a
recent theft of White House

blackberries in New Orleans
during the recent leaders

conference.

These phones were returned
eventually to their owners.

But before they're
returned to their owners,

they must be wiped completely,
and zeroed out, and rebuilt

because the potential of having
basically a piece of software

hidden in the background
that's doing very, very

dangerous things exists.

And this is not science fiction.

The thing about these
security breaches

is that they seem
incredibly benign.

They seem really simple.

But when you're talking
about the Executive

Office of the President of the
United States, we all care.

Every telephone, every
bit of electronic gear

can be a transmitter
and a receiver.

And so it's feasible that
a telephone could pick up

certain RF emanations within
the Oval Office and transmit it.

We've certainly done it.

We've stood outside
foreign embassies

and followed IBM
mag typewriters,

and could replicate
everything that was

typed on that machine that way.

NARRATOR: When Michael
Bohn became the director

of the White House
Situation Room,

he noticed a similar
vulnerability.

When I got there, there were
no RF shields on the windows.

And I said, somebody could
sit at the Hay-Adams Hotel

across the street and
pick up conversations

from the Oval Office.

And I threw a fit.

And the Secret Service
said, don't worry about it.

We've got it covered.

But I had the Sit Room windows
covered with a fine metal mesh

that would stop certain
kinds of radiation

from coming in or going out.

NARRATOR: In July 2009, computer
systems in the White House,

the Pentagon, and the New York
Stock Exchange began to crash.

Three days later, State
Department and Homeland

Security websites disappeared,
and servers at the Treasury,

National Security Agency,
and even the Pentagon

came under attack.

The strikes were the work of
computer hackers sending out

covert messages from
somewhere in North Korea.

These attacks amount to
an intelligence attack.

It is probing your defenses.

And some would say preparing the
battlefield in case there were

a cyber war.

NARRATOR: The damage
was eventually contained

and the evidence showed
no attempt to gain control

over any government systems.

But the cyber attack
revealed a vulnerability

that has existed since
1985, when email was first

used in the White House under
President Ronald Reagan.

When you or I send
an email message,

nothing really is going to
go wrong if somebody sees it.

If somebody in the White
House sends an email message

and it gets intercepted before
it should be, people could die.

The United States is subjected
to thousands of cyber attacks

every single day.

Will some of those places
where they penetrate

lead to information which
is classified, sensitive,

or information they don't have?

Can they get far enough to
perhaps take over a computer,

to create a Trojan
horse out of it?

A so-called botnet in which
in the event of conflict,

a number of our computers
could be used against us

or to stop functioning.

NARRATOR: Ironically, in the
months prior to the July 2009

cyber attack,
President Barack Obama

had ordered Secretary
of Defense Robert Gaetz

to create Pentagon based
Cyber Command Division,

with both offensive and
defensive capabilities.

Cyberspace is real and so are
the risks that come with it.

Al-Qaeda and other
terrorist groups

have spoken of their
desire to unleash a cyber

attack on our country.

NARRATOR: But just
how vulnerable

are the nation's most vital
computer stored secrets?

In the event of
a cyber attack that

brought down all or
part of our power grid,

our electrical power
grid, what would

be the consequences of that?

Quite clearly, the consequences
would be a very high degree

of chaos throughout the country.

NARRATOR: While the
information age has ushered

in a new generation
of high tech spy gear,

the Cold War era methods
of the past century

also continue to
threaten the president.

Might a president's
book of secrets

contain information about spies
who have infiltrated the White

House?

I am not aware of any
listening device found

in the Oval Office or
the Situation Room,

which does not mean it
might not have happened.

We certainly recall within
the period of the 90s,

there was an instance where a
Russian military intelligence

officer had managed to get a
listening device into the state

department.

So that's getting close.

The KGB tried very hard to
put people into the White House.

But as far as I know, no cases
were discovered in the Cold

War.

And then when there was a
brief moment in Moscow when

the secrets were out between
the old Soviet system

and the arrival of Mr. Putin's
rebuilding of the Soviet style,

in between there was a gap
when people talked a lot.

And we never heard of
anybody during the Cold War

who managed to get a spy
into the White House.

NARRATOR: Often
the biggest reason

classified information
and communication becomes

compromised or enters
the public domain

isn't due to any foreign
espionage agency,

but rather because of
those working closest

to the president or within
the government bureaucracy.

All presidents go
crazy over leaks.

It's the one thing that is
sure to irritate or enrage

an American president.

And there's not a
single one of them

who has been immune to this.

It's actually a colossal
waste of the president's time

because it's very
hard to track leaks.

Nixon set up the plumbers
unit, they called it,

to try to plug the leaks.

And it didn't work.

It contributed to the
Watergate scandal.

And all of the efforts that
presidents right through Obama

to try to guess who might be
leaking get mad at their staff

over leaks.

Every president the United
States probably going back

to George Washington uttered
those silly words, there

will be no leaks.

NARRATOR: In the summer of 2010,
some of the United States war

plans became public when the
website Wikileaks published

tens of thousands of classified
reports and private emails.

The documents, which
contained intricate details

of military operations
in Afghanistan,

appeared to have been leaked
from a source within US Army

intelligence.

If so, could the highly
sensitive information contained

within a president's
book of secrets

be similarly compromised?

People feel you can't
keep a secret in Washington.

I have found that that's
simply not the case.

There are many, many
secrets that have never seen

the light of public knowledge.

There are absolutely
presidential secrets

that have never been revealed
from the White House.

Let's not forget, a lot of
what happens in government

happens in what we call
the invisible government--

the intelligence agencies,
secret military operations,

about which we may know nothing.

NARRATOR: But in the age of
cyber terrorism and government

embedded whistle-blowers,
is it really possible

that there is a presidential
book of secrets containing

information that has never
been disclosed or leaked?

If so, what might a curious
president find out about some

of the long held
myths, mysteries,

and scandals locked
away in the White House?

If a president's book of secrets
exists, some of the chapters

would likely be devoted to the
many long held presidential

myths, mysteries, and
conspiracy theories.

I think anyone who would have
the opportunity to say, well,

if I had the choice of knowing
some of the most closely

guarded secrets of the United
States, what would they be?

And probably in the
current era, one

would think about
the same things

that President Clinton
allegedly came up with when

he came to the Oval Office.

Who actually killed
President Kennedy?

Are there UFO aliens
living among us,

or somewhere secreted
away in a chamber

that no one knows about?

How did our
technology come about?

Did Velcro actually
come from aliens?

Which has been an allegation
in some classified, so-called

classified books.

NARRATOR: But with
a book of secrets,

could the president
find out the truth

about anything he wants to
know, even the nation's most

top secret information,
simply by asking for it?

Can he even open files that
have been ordered sealed?

Technically, he has the
ability to learn everything.

But as a practical
matter, a lot of agencies

do keep the secrets.

And frankly, sometimes the
president doesn't want to know.

Once you get to
become US president,

you don't have to
have a clearance,

you don't have to
follow any rules,

and there's no classification.

I've never been a president.

But as I understand
it from presidents,

they're very keen to know
what their predecessors did.

Since World War II, we've
been enveloped in secrecy.

Everything is kept secret.

The public knows very little.

The National
Archives is currently

saying that it has a backlog of
408 million pages of classified

records.

Despite the fact that Congress
passed a law trying to get all

of the Kennedy
assassination records out,

there are still about 50,000
pages of CIA records relating

to the Kennedy assassination
that are being withheld today.

NARRATOR: If a president's
book of secrets does exist,

might it silence once and
for all those conspiracy

theorists who maintain
that President Bush had

advanced knowledge of
the terrorist attacks

on September 11th, 2001?

There were those who believe
the Bush presidency was

faltering.

Bush's approval
ratings were fairly low

and he needed an enemy.

He needed to kind of recreate
the Cold War with a new enemy,

and that new enemy
would be Al-Qaeda.

That there was an
intelligence report

warning about an attack on the
United States using airplanes.

That Bush knew about this and
let the 9/11 attack take place

in order to get his enemies.

There are even more lurid
versions of the Bush conspiracy

theory that in fact,
the attackers on 9/11

were US intelligence operatives.

NARRATOR: But if such audacious
claims were even partially

true, wouldn't President
Bush's political rivals

have eagerly exposed it?

I always go by the
Pennsylvania Avenue rule, which

is never say anything unless
you expect it to be shouted

in the middle of
Pennsylvania Avenue

because everything leaks.

And I guarantee if the president
had tried to orchestrate

something like 9/11, there would
have been catastrophic leaks.

A lot of people believe
in conspiracy theories

because they're not
close to the government.

And they don't see that this
bumbling noisy leaky structure

is incapable of conspiracies.

This is an enormously
energetic complex system.

And different agencies
have different habits

and different patterns.

And so there's too much
chaos in the American system

they have a big fat
conspiracy secret.

But as a species, we've
had conspiracy theories

from the very beginning.

It frightens people to believe
that the world could be large,

random, and uncaring.

NARRATOR: One of the most
enduring conspiracy theories

that surround the
Office of the President

first took root in 1947,
when the US military reported

that an alien spaceship had
crashed landed outside Roswell,

New Mexico.

Although the government quickly
revised its initial report,

according to
believers, the remains

of the ship and possibly even
its alien crew were whisked off

to a secret military airbase
in Nevada called Area 51.

There is nothing around
Area 51 for hundreds of miles

really.

I mean, you drive in on
a long, long dirt road.

And there are ground sensors in
that road so base security know

that you're coming.

Eventually you arrive, and
it's really a series of signs.

There's not very even a
clearly defined border.

And that's the point that
you don't want to go beyond.

There are contractors that
show up in pickup trucks

and they kind of watch
you and surveil you.

And of course what
that means is you

have people that are devoted
to trying to figure out

whether or not they
were aliens there.

NARRATOR: But could such
a fantastic claim be true?

And if so, wouldn't the US
president know about it?

I think it depends
on the sense of humor

of the president.

But I can't help but think that
some of them, upon assuming

the office, asked their
predecessor, come on, what's

the deal with alien technology?

The alien situation
is very interesting

because we had the same issue.

I mean, there are people out
there that really believe

that there are these aliens.

And we literally spent
some time looking at this.

But there was nothing
conclusive that came of it.

In truth though, the reason
why there's so much secrecy

about Area 51 is that is where
the Air Force develops its most

secret and sensitive planes,
including its high flying

surveillance planes and
the stealth fighters.

They also apparently develop
weapons systems there.

At least according
to the government.

But hey, there are
plenty of people

who believe that's
an elaborate cover up

for a storehouse
of an alien ship,

alien bodies, and
maybe even live aliens.

NARRATOR: Over the
years, presidents

have unintentionally or
perhaps deliberately helped

fuel the debate.

In 1969, Jimmy
Carter was on his way

to a Lions Club meeting.

And he and a dozen other people
witnessed what at least a bunch

of them thought was clearly
an unidentified flying object.

It was a very bright light.

It turned colors.

And it advanced toward
them and stayed just

beyond a copse of trees.

Carter was shaken.

He was struck by it.

He remembered it.

But not until 1973 did he report
it to an International UFO

agency, by which time he
was governor of Georgia.

There was an
investigation into Area 51

during the Clinton
administration.

There were also some
lawsuits involving Area 51,

and the Clinton administration
invoked executive secrets

and did not release any
information about Area 51.

And by the very fact that
it's been kept so secret,

that spawns all kinds of rumors
and all kinds of speculations.

NARRATOR: In later
interviews, President Clinton

admitted the investigations
never found any evidence

of aliens or alien technology.

But he said that even though
he didn't find any evidence

of it, well, it wouldn't
have been the first time

that bureaucrats had
lied to a president.

NARRATOR: Government cover
ups about assassinations

and alien invasions
may be far fetched,

but this isn't to suggest there
aren't real life dangers facing

the leader of the free world.

Nearly every day,
assassination plots

against the president or
a member of his family

are uncovered.

But just how are these
schemes thwarted?

And what might a
president's book of secrets

reveal about the undercover
plans and methods that

are used to protect the most
powerful person on Earth?

They follow him.

They watch him.

And they protect him
with their very lives.

They are the Secret Service.

And if the president has
or keeps a book of secrets,

they would know about it.

And they are sworn to silence.

When the Secret Service
begins to protect someone,

there's a briefing provided.

And certainly for
a new president,

the briefing's fairly extensive.

I can't talk about some of
the things that are discussed,

but you know, the president
is given an overview of what

his life is going to be like.

When a person is under
protection, of course,

they're being shadowed
basically all the time,

except when they
go to the bathroom,

or when they sleep at
night, when they're

in their private residence.

But even then, of course they're
watched from the outside.

There are monitors that
we had which would tell us

at any given time
where any member

of the first or
second family were.

So you would either see POTUS,
president of the United States,

and it would say Oval Office.

Or POTUS, Marine One.

Or POTUS, Camp David.

So you always had an idea
of where he was going

and where he was.

Not everybody had those
monitors, just obviously people

who needed to know.

There is a peephole that
leads into the Oval Office

from the area where the
president's personal aide

and the president's
personal secretary sit.

And it's used to see
how meetings are going,

to see if things are
running on schedule, to make

sure the president's OK.

Clinton and Obama both
said the same thing.

They feel like they're
in a gilded cage,

almost in a prison in some ways.

Once you lose your anonymity,
you appreciate more the values

of privacy.

It's a very
isolating lifestyle.

And there was not a
lot of young people.

And so the staff and the
Secret Service, all of us

younger people
hung out together.

My oldest son
remarks to this day.

Said, well, it was really great.

I'd be driven home
in a black sedan.

And these great big iron
gates would open up.

And they let me in.

And then they would
slam them shut.

And I felt like I was
coming home to jail.

Now that's a rather
dramatic expression.

I told him I don't believe
that it was quite that bad.

But clearly, it
was tough on him.

NARRATOR: The Secret Service
was set up by the Treasury

Department in 1865 as an
investigative agency working

financial crimes.

But after the assassination
of President William McKinley

in 1901, the Secret
Service was brought

in to function in effect as the
president's official bodyguard.

Now under the umbrella of
the Department of Homeland

Security, the ranks
of the Secret Service

include thousands of uniformed
and undercover agents,

all tasked with
keeping the president

secure from outside threats.

And what a lot of
people may not realize

is that there is a core
of people who threaten

the president all the time.

They're well known.

And it doesn't matter
who the president is.

What the Secret Service worries
more about are the people

they don't know who don't
threaten the president overtly.

NARRATOR: But would a book of
secrets helped the president

prepare for the kind
of security procedures

that he would have to observe
while holding the nation's

highest office?

I'll use a rope
line as an example

because that's more or less the
more dangerous times, when he's

shaking hands in a rope line.

The Secret Service works very
hard on developing, training,

and having agents able to
react to issues in a rope line.

I think what's interesting is
how the agents look at people

differently because you don't
have one technique that's being

used.

My own was that, you
know, you looked at eyes.

When you look in
their eyes, you can

get a sense of whether they
belong there or not, what

their state of mind is.

I think all the agents look
for anomalies, you know,

what's not right in this crowd.

People with hands
in their pockets,

people who are not
engaged in the event,

you know, things
that don't belong.

Also, in a crowd,
the Secret Service

will have agents
who don't appear

to be agents, who
are not wearing

the traditional
squiggly earpiece.

And they will
circulate in the crowd

and get a feel for anybody who
might be a possible threat.

The size of the team
is very large, certainly

in the hundreds.

What you see is absolutely
the tip of the iceberg.

There are so many
people that really

have to go with the president
wherever he travels.

There's going to be
a 26 car motorcade.

Because there's not
just the security that

has to go with him, and the
police, the motorcycles,

medical assistants, the staff
has to be there, and the press.

When you add it all up, it takes
a lot of people to do this.

They'll have three dimensional
mock ups of the routes.

They'll plan where counter
sniper teams will be.

The Secret Service
will actually take away

any mailboxes on the
route because they

could have explosives.

They will seal by
welding the manhole

covers so that nobody can plant
explosives in the manholes

and blow up the president.

When Barack Obama
was inaugurated,

he and Michelle got out
of the limousine twice

and they are told where is
the best place to get out.

Whether it's a planned
event or an unplanned event,

every step is choreographed,
and it has to be.

NARRATOR: The massive protection
surrounding the president can

turn a simple trip across town
into an enormous and complex

operation.

Even a casual visit
to a friend's house

warrants the full Secret
Service treatment.

Before President
Bush and Laura

were going to have dinner
at Clay Johnson's and Anne

Johnson's home in Spring
Valley, Washington,

the Secret Service showed up,
and did their usual advance

work.

And checked it out, set
up an operation center

in the basement.

Put cones in front of the house
so that other people would not

park there.

And asked Anne Johnson
what closet they could

use in case there's an attack.

They put some extra
special lights in there.

And I asked him
what he was doing.

He said, well,
that's where we'll

take the president in case
there's an incident here.

And I said, well, it's
a very small closet.

You really can't get very
many people in there.

And he said, we only have to get
me and the president in there.

And I said, well, what
happens to the rest of us?

He looked at me with kind of
a you're on your own buddy.

NARRATOR: A president's
book of secrets

might also have to
include information

about what the chief executive
needs to know in the event

of an attack on his life.

For example, who's in charge,
the president or his guardians?

Ultimately, the
president's in charge.

That's basically the law.

But I think as a
practical matter,

the president looks
to the Secret Service

for guidance in a crisis.

If there's a
shooting, or you know,

some major event,
Secret Service just

reacts and doesn't
ask permission,

and just basically
moves the president.

The Secret Service
is there all the time.

They know where
the president is.

They see him.

They know who's with him.

They are observing
him all the time.

They know what's going on.

NARRATOR: Of course, while
the Secret Service never

leaves the president's
side, its agents

do not have access to the same
classified data as he does.

But could there be information
that even the president doesn't

know?

Information about secret
programs and institutions

so highly sensitive that
whether in a file, a program,

or a book of secrets, it
cannot even be shared with

a nation's highest
elected official.

And if the President of the
United States doesn't know,

who does?

A president's term in office
usually lasts between four

and eight years.

Because of this, many suspect
that long time Washington power

brokers, intelligence officers,
or military commanders

might keep secrets
from the president.

But could this be true?

Could there be information
so important or so vital

to national security that
even the president cannot know

of it?

Secret disclosures
that were not even

be recorded in a
president's book of secrets.

That's an interesting question
to ask if the president can

ever be denied access.

I think the answer
to that must be no.

It'd be hard to imagine how
that would be legally possible.

But that's not to say that the
president does or is advised

to get into the
details of all kinds

of classified information.

Some of it he may need to know.

Some of it may be better
for him not to know.

We need to think
very carefully

about whether some secrets
are not even shared

with the president, and who
decides that those secrets

should not be shared with our
elected, not only commander

in chief, but head of state
and head of government.

And if so, italicized, all
caps, underscore, if so,

then who decides that the
president is not to know?

And on what basis did
they make that decision?

Is that constitutional?

Is it legal?

And perhaps most importantly,
is it healthy for the country?

First, let me say I
take full responsibility

for my own actions and for
those of my administration.

As angry as I may be about
activities undertaken

without my knowledge,
I am still accountable

for those activities.

NARRATOR: But while it's hard
to prove that government secrets

might be deliberately withheld,
the fact is a president cannot

possibly be told everything
that is going on.

Technically, he has the
ability to learn everything.

But as a practical matter,
somebody has to sort it out.

Somebody has to say these
are important, these aren't.

These are urgent, these aren't.

There's too much
information worldwide.

Somebody once figured out
that the amount of information

in the Sunday New
York Times was larger

than the amount of information
a villager in England

in the 16th century would have
received in their lifetime.

A lot of what happens in
government happens in what we

call the invisible government--
the intelligence agencies,

secret military operations,
about which we may know

nothing.

A lot of that
information has come out,

a lot of books written
about covert operations.

But I guarantee there is a
huge amount of information

about covert operations abroad,
and about the extent to which

the intelligence agencies
of the United States

have manipulated and
controlled the American people

in this country that
have never come out.

In the early 1960s the
joint chiefs of staff

drew up a plan called Operation
Northwoods in which they

planned a series of acts
against American civilians

and the hijackings of planes
so they could blame it

on Cuba as a pretext to
an invasion against Cuba.

We didn't learn about
that until the 1990s,

more than 30 years later.

That secret was kept.

NARRATOR: But just how are
these secret military operations

and research programs financed?

And wouldn't the means
of securing financing

have to be detailed
for the president,

perhaps in a book of secrets?

Information, for example,
concerning the president's

black budget.

The black budget is the secret
part of the federal budget.

It's a part of
the federal budget

that Congress is
actually not able to see.

You can find a lot
of the black budget

in a section of the
defense budget called

research development
test and evaluation.

This is a document
you can download

from the internet from the
DOD comptroller's website.

If you open that up and start
to look at the line items,

you'll find some
very curious things.

You'll find strange code names
like pilot fish or retract

larch.

There will be millions of
allocated to these programs

and there will be no
corresponding justification

for them.

NARRATOR: Many of the projects
funded by the president's

black budget involves
secret government

or military facilities located
around the United States.

In Utah, the Dugway
Proving Ground

is rumored to be
a testing facility

for biological and chemical
weapons defense systems.

In California, the
Vandenberg Air Force Base

is thought by many to be
the launching site for spy

satellites.

In terms of what goes on
at one of these black sites,

of course it has to do
with what kinds of programs

are being run there.

At a place like Area 51
or the Tonopah Test Range,

there will be people conducting
flight test operations,

evaluating different kinds
of experimental technologies,

and forward that information
onto the intelligence community

for analysis.

NARRATOR: Incoming
presidents no doubt

understand that there are
many ongoing secret military

experiments and
research programs

that they are not
fully briefed on.

But what they might not
realize is the size and extent

of this shadowy
black budget world.

In theory, the president
may have access to all of it.

But as a practical
matter, he doesn't.

It's not as much that
presidents wouldn't be told,

but there's so much out there
that is secret, and so much

planning at all
the agency levels

that it might not percolate
up to the president's level

until perhaps the last minute.

I think a lot of us have
this sense that, oh yeah, sure,

the government, they
do some secret stuff.

There's a couple of secret
airplanes, do this and that.

But when we look at the
scale of the black budget,

we're talking about $30
to $50 billion annually.

The scale of this is enormous.

On his first day in
office, President Obama

signed an executive order
saying the burden of proof

should be on those who
want to keep secrets,

not on those who want to
declassify information, the way

it's been in the past.

The president recognizes
that the government

is keeping too many secrets.

NARRATOR: But if the
president's book of secrets

doesn't contain
information concerning

all of the government's covert
operations, where or to whom

might the president
look to find it?

Or is it possible that there
is an individual or a group

of individuals that has a hidden
agenda for the United States

of America?

An agenda so secret that it
dare not be written about, even

in a president's
book of secrets.

The Freemasons, the Council
on Foreign Relations,

the New World Order,
Skull and Bones--

there are many who believe that
the nation's business is run

by secret societies, cabals
run by shadowy figures

who operate according to hidden
agendas and secret rules.

If so, wouldn't information
about these so-called secret

alliances and their
purpose have to be

shared with each president
in a book of secrets?

Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining those closest

to the president.

Those advisors,
often unelected, who

wield both power and influence.

The power, as it were,
behind the throne.

The president has to trust
a large number of people.

And a new president knows,
I can't trust, really trust

that many people.

But I have to know
that sooner or later,

at least a few of them
are going to prove

not worthy of that trust.

People in politics all have
a big piece of their brain

that says there's a conspiracy.

There's a conspiracy against us.

There's a conspiracy
against them.

And I remember when I first
got into politics helping 41,

people who were really afraid
of several international groups.

The Council for Foreign
Affairs were some evil force

of bad guys trying to take over,
make this whole world like one

world government.

The president knows
he can't trust anybody.

If he wants to trust
somebody, he has to get a dog.

Every possible
person who has access

to a candidate or a
president is continuously

trying to influence him.

So each time somebody
approaches the president

with some information, that
information is usually wrapped

or is part of or justifies
something that somebody wants.

If you centralize this
much power in one city

and you centralize this
much money in one city,

you're going to have a
huge number of people

who try to shape it.

No matter how much President
Obama says that he doesn't want

to be surrounded by yes men,
as he told me in an interview

that I did with him, he said a
lot of times they won't say it

to me directly, and
I'll only find out later

that they object.

So a lot of times the president
doesn't get the information

that he needs because
people feel intimidated,

or they don't want
to be argumentative

with the president.

NARRATOR: In Washington, the
fact that the president is

often isolated both
socially and informationally

is known as being trapped
inside the bubble.

To combat this problem,
presidents often

turn to unofficial advisors
outside the White House.

The term used is
kitchen cabinet.

That is to say people that the
president has not appointed

to office, who have not
been confirmed by Congress,

and who are nevertheless very
powerful and influential.

Ronald Reagan, for example, who
became president when he was

not young had lived a long
life, had many friends,

close friends, a lot of people
were very intensely loyal

to him.

Only a handful of them
came into the presidency

as the Secretary of Defense
Weinberger, Secretary of State

Shultz.

The others would
come and visit him,

and there were his
kitchen cabinet.

Every president has such people.

Sometimes it causes a
problem because whereas

his formal advisor, the people
he names to important positions

are examined by the public,
and examined by Congress,

and have to be confirmed,
their background checked,

and their history
is known, these

are the people are
private people who

have the right to privacy
and usually are very private.

NARRATOR: But
where do presidents

make these alliances that become
so important when they are

in office?

Very often they stretch back
to their days in college,

where lifelong friendships
could be forged.

Of course, Yale is a
citadel of the establishment.

Many American presidents have
gone there, including George HW

Bush and George W. Bush.

George W. Bush was
a good friend when

I was an undergraduate at Yale.

In fact, we were a
fraternity brothers

and did fraternity
parties together.

And John Kerry, future Senator
and presidential candidate,

was a year ahead of me,
president of the Yale Political

Union.

Joe Lieberman, Senator
from Connecticut,

was three years ahead of me,
chairman of the Yale Daily

News.

And then I went to law
school, and in my third year,

I met Hillary Rodham.

And then after I
graduated Yale Law School,

she introduced me to somebody
that she was quite interested

in, thought had a
great political future.

And his name was Bill Clinton.

NARRATOR: But do these
connections really

mean that there are hidden
requirements to hold

the nation's top office?

And might a president's
book of secrets

contain information about
a secret organization

that is pulling the
strings in the White House?

Secrecy is a very,
very powerful tool

of wielding power.

If you're able to do things and
not tell other people about it,

this represents an
enormous really kind

of monarchical power.

NARRATOR: But there is
one clandestine fraternity

in particular that attracts
more suspicion than others.

Skull and Bones has become
renowned perhaps as the most

elite and powerful of
all the secret societies.

Headquartered in a
crypt like building

in the middle of the
Yale University campus

in New Haven, Connecticut,
it claims a long list

of influential alumni.

Skull and Bones has counted
among its members presidents,

senators, congressmen,
CIA officials.

The list goes on and on.

Members get power,
they can get money,

they can get connections, all
because they share this one

tie.

One of the things that
feeds the legend about Skull

and Bones is that
particularly in recent years,

presidents have tended
to get around themselves

a very large number
of people who

come from the Northeastern
part of the United States

and/or the financial
world, Wall Street,

and/or Ivy League schools.

Skull and Bones exists
only to get Bonesmen

into those positions
of power, and then

to have those powerful men
then elevate other Bonesmen

into positions of prestige.

But is there a
secret world agenda?

Or do they want to
dominate everything just

for the sake of
world domination?

No, that's just a
conspiracy theory.

NARRATOR: But
conspiracy theories

notwithstanding, the
fact is presidents,

just like everyone else,
are made of not only skulls

and bones but also
flesh and blood.

And for this
reason, it is likely

that one of the most important
chapters within the book

of secrets would concern
not only the presidency,

but the physical, emotional,
and mental stability

of the president himself.

Perhaps the final chapter in
the president's book of secrets

would cover the most carefully
guarded issues related

to the United States
chief executive,

including information related
to the president's physical

and mental health.

There's a confidence
factor for the whole country

if people doubt that their
president has the health

and vitality to do the job.

That's going to cause
Wall Street to plummet.

It's going to have an
effect on the economy.

It's going to encourage
Al-Qaeda and other enemies

to do whatever harm they
could do to the United States.

So one could argue there
is a national security

and economic reason to conceal
the president's health.

No other leader has the power
to project the kind of force

and influence around the world
that an American president

does.

Mr. Gorbachev,
tear down this wall.

ALLAN LICHTMAN:
Health is relevant,

but presidents have been as
un-forthcoming as they possibly

can about their health.

NARRATOR: The responsibility
of protecting and if necessary

concealing the
president's health falls

to a private
physician who travels

with the chief executive
24 hours a day.

This is one of those rare jobs
that if the president is sick,

it is the doctor's problem.

The staff will come to
you and say, you know,

the president looks tired.

You need to take care of that.

One of the challenges
of White House physician

is dealing with the legacy
that you've inherited

from the prior administrations.

Meaning, there
were medical issues

that you did not reveal
to the press that you hid,

that you even denied.

NARRATOR: In the
past, some presidents

have gone to great lengths to
hide illnesses from the public.

In 1919, Woodrow Wilson
suffered a stroke,

and his wife was said to
have been running the White

House in his last days.

While in office, FDR concealed
not only his paralysis caused

by polio, but also the heart
disease that ultimately

led to his death in 1945.

Let the word go forth that
the torch has been passed

to a new generation
of Americans.

JFK was in constant pain.

He suffered from childhood
from Addison's disease.

His back was giving him so
much pain on a regular basis

that if he didn't receive
pain medication every day

on a regular schedule, he'd
be flat out on his back.

And consequently,
during his presidency,

he was either a
little bit doped up

or in excruciating discomfort.

Nobody knew about
it at the time.

I mean, a very small clique
of people, very few friends.

And those reporters who knew
about it didn't talk about it.

NARRATOR: So would a president's
book of secrets detail

for the commander in chief the
extraordinary means by which

his or her health
is to be maintained,

all while ensuring the
utmost in national security?

We do have some equipment that
we can't talk about in detail,

such as for biochemical warfare.

There is a private suite in
the Bethesda Naval Hospital

that is armored that it has its
own air supply, its own water

system, that is bomb
proof, and it's locked.

It's called the METU, which
stands for Medical Evaluation

Treatment Unit.

The beauty of the suite
it is self-contained.

On a regular day
at the hospital,

you don't even know
the president is there.

The hospital goes on
business as normal,

and the president
could be there,

and he's totally protected.

NARRATOR: But what
if a president

fails to heed his
doctor's advice?

Are there any secret
methods of persuasion

used by a White House physician?

One of the secrets that
White House doctors have kept

over the years is, if the
president doesn't want

to follow your orders, you have
no other recourse but to resort

to higher authority, and that
is to appeal to the First Lady

of the United States.

You get pretty good
compliance after that.

NARRATOR: For the men and women
who actively seek the nation's

highest office, it is
certainly no secret

that the physical changes
from inauguration to departure

can be startling.

Even the hardiest
and most fit will

retire from office looking
noticeably grayer and more

careworn.

So why do it?

Is it for power,
accomplishment, fame?

Or is it for ultimate knowledge?

The type of knowledge contained
within a president's book

of secrets.

On January 8, 2009, during the
last days of his presidency,

George W. Bush invited four
men to a private reunion

at the White House.

I want to thank the
President-elect for joining

the ex-presidents.

President Bush had a lunch
with his father, George H.W.

Bush, Barack Obama, Bill
Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.

It's such a small club of
people who have been president

of the United States and
only a handful still living

that they do have a
connection to each other.

Even if they're from
different parties,

they're in the same club.

To the extent we
can, we look forward

to sharing our
experiences with you.

All of us who have
served in this office

understand that
the office itself

transcends the individual.

More presidents talk
more than people realize.

They don't advertise it,
but each president I think

uses the former presidents.

Because who better
can explain what

it's like to be in so
many circumstances.

They're able to give a unique
perspective because they've

been there.

They know what
the pressures are.

They know what the issues are.

And to have a president
to president discussion,

you understand the
entire situation,

and you're able to
give some insights.

NARRATOR: Five men,
five out of 44,

in an unbroken chain
that stretches back

to George Washington and
the founding fathers.

Only five who know the truth
about whether or not there

actually is a president's
book of secrets.

The problem with putting
that kind of information

together in one journal is
that it can be stolen, copied,

compromised.

I'd be very nervous if
I were the president

and I knew some other
people had access to that.

I can't quite imagine what
the handbook would look like.

But we keep lots of secrets.

We keep an amazing
number of secrets.

Well, if there is such a
book, I'm not aware of it.

I have my doubts that
there is such a book.

But there are deep
and abiding secrets.

Presidents themselves
certainly keep secrets.

Secrecy is power.

Knowledge is power.

And the more knowledge that
is secret, the more powerful

you perceive yourself to be.

The coin of the realm
in this town is not money.

It's not even power per se.

It's information.

Those who have it are in power,
and those that don't have

aren't.

NARRATOR: But is there really
a president's book of secrets?

Or is it simply the
collective knowledge

that only the surviving
presidents share?

One thing is certain,
they're not telling.

I would say that there are
things that George Bush 41

and I know that not too
many other people know.

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