“No problem dear,” Mom responded. “The designer won’t want anyone to know where the material comes from, in case someone else outbids them. Having to call it spider silk will only make it more exotic, and there will be more than enough material for a blouse as well. One request though.”
Amy was curious. “Sure Mom, what?”
“If there’s enough material I want a blouse too!”
“Of course! It’s beautiful isn’t it?” She and Mom hugged, while a mystified Dad looked on.
* * *
Amy was frantically taking down notes. Professor Mitchell had just given them a number of hints on what would be on the exam. Amy thought she would remember but with her upcoming trip to collect Daughter, she thought she’d better write them down. Fortunately the prof had been asked to take a telephone call, which must be urgent, as they usually didn’t interrupt a lecture.
Someone announced loudly, “Amy La Reine, you have a call from the White House.”
Amy just sat there until there until her friends started to push her out of her seat. Amy wondered what this was about. Everyone was looking at her as she walked down the stairs. Taking the phone Amy identified herself, “Hello, I’m Amy La Reine.”
“Hello, Miss La Reine, I’m June Pickering, Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. The President has asked me to invite you to join him and the First Lady at the White House. The President and the First Lady were very impressed by your comments a few weeks ago and want you to come to the White House to share your ideas with the Domestic Policy Council sub-committee that will be working on a new Social Security Bill.”
“I don’t have any experience at this sort of thing, Miss Pickering,” she said cautiously.
Miss Pickering responded, “That’s OK Amy, we know that, and the First Lady and I will be there to help you. You should just call me June; I just graduated from Duke University last year, so I’m learning about this stuff too. The President is going to announce that he’s vetoing the present bill at a news conference in 30 minutes. He wants to confirm that he can use your name?”
She took a deep breath. “Of course!” This was the type of involvement in government she’d always wanted. How would she still travel to the Isolated Worlds? Could she get Daughter when she promised? But this was the politics she had dreamed of, and here it was being handed to her. “When would I be going to Washington?”
“Great,” said June. “I will get back to you later with all the details, as nothing is final yet. You’ll meet with the President and First Lady next week for a photo op, and then with sub-committee about a month later. You’re going to get some calls from the media, so just be non-committal and say that it is a great honor and you don’t have any comments until you receive more details. After all, that’s true. Now please pass me back to Professor Mitchell.”
She passed the phone back to the Professor and just stood there trying to collect her thoughts. When Professor Mitchell put the phone back down, he turned to Amy. “So, what now Amy?”
“I’ve no idea Professor,” said Amy, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.
“That’s OK Amy; there are a lot of people here to help you. The University will support one of its stars in every way it can. Now I suggest you go back to your seat before you fall down,” the Professor joked.
Stars? Amy just nodded and distractedly climbed the stairs back to her seat, too busy trying to absorb what had happened to answer questions from the other students. Did he call her a star?
“All right people settle down,” called Professor Mitchell. “Based on what the White House just told us we have a change in program.”
Professor Mitchell smiled; everyone was waiting expectantly. “We are going to discuss something now that must be kept secret until the President announces it at a press conference in 30 minutes. The doors of this lecture hall are going to be locked and no one will leave, even for the washroom. Also, no one will be permitted to use a cellphone, laptop or any other electronic device, so switch them off and put them away now. If you don’t agree to these conditions you can leave now and no marks will be lost, but if you do stay and break these conditions you’ll be kicked off this course.”
Professor Mitchell waited. No one moved, except to pack laptops away and switch off their cellphones. The atmosphere in the room was electric. Everyone knew that an incident like this would be talked about for weeks.
“Good. While my assistants set up the video equipment so we can watch the President’s news conference I will let you know what just happened.” Professor Mitchell waved at his assistants to get started. Apart from the sound of equipment being moved around, there was no other sound in the lecture hall. “The White House has just offered an invitation to Miss La Reine. This relates to this secret.” He paused, playing up the drama. “The President will shortly announce that he is vetoing the Social Security Bill.” That created a stir; for months everyone had watched the crisis that had been brewing in Washington, DC.
Professor Mitchell raised his hand for silence, and after getting it continued, “The President will also announce that a sub-committee of the Domestic Policy Council is to be created, given the task of drafting a new Social Security Bill. The First Lady will be chairing the sub-committee. Miss La Reine has been invited to present her ideas to the sub-committee. It appears that Miss La Reine impressed the President when she discussed the current Social Security Bill with him and the First Lady.”
“You didn’t tell us you knew the President,” said one of the students close to Amy.
“Just socially, that’s all,” whispered Amy. It was clear from the looks around her that this Political Sciences student had just gone from anonymous to VIP.
Professor Mitchell signaled to Miss La Reine to stand up, requesting, with what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, “Now tell us Miss La Reine what you told the President that so impressed him. Stand where you are and just give us a summary of the discussion.” He waited.
Amy tried not to fall apart. This was a lot of pressure. She took a couple of breaths; everyone was focused on her, some curious, some envious. “Well, Professor,” she started, projecting her voice so everyone could hear, “I was seated with the President at a social event when he asked for my opinion on the Social Security Bill. I think he wanted someone’s opinion who was less than forty.”
That generated a few positive comments from around the room.
“Please go on,” said Professor Mitchell, reminding them that this was his lecture.
“I told the President and the First Lady, that the current Bill was flawed because the Bill assumes that the same solution will work in every part of the country. I told him that the trillions of dollars spent will do some good, but will be less effective than it should be. I told the President that he should veto the current Bill.”
That caused a chorus of, “Wow,” “Yikes,” and similar expressions from around the room.
Amy was into the flow of it now, continuing, “I then told the President and First Lady why. That the current Bill takes away any responsibility from people and imposes an answer to their problems from some anonymous bureaucrat. I told them it would be better to trust in people and allow them to find their own solutions, to give them back their dignity and pride. I told them that this would allow spending on the right priorities and the right problems. The President asked me how I would see that working, and I suggested that if he appointed local people, people who use the programs, to authorities in each district, then those authorities would set local priorities, within a framework, on how the allocated funds would be spent. That would be a more effective way to allocate local funding. My view was that the current Bill takes away responsibility from people, and a new system working within a framework would allow people to be responsible for their own destinies again. I told the President that we have to believe in people, not programs.”
There was a pause while everyone considered this, with a few students giving her quiet applau
se.
“Well done Miss La Reine,” Professor Mitchell said, approval in his tone. “While there are many opinions about the current Social Security Bill in this room, the important thing is that, without notice, you were able to provide a concise statement of your views to the President of the United States.”
Amy responded with a grin, “Well Professor, I don’t think it was that concise the first time.” That generated a few laughs.
Professor Mitchell smiled back. “It may not have been, but the important point is that you impressed the President. Miss La Reine, in a few minutes you’ll be pushed onto the national political stage. Our job now is to help you, and to make sure that you are a good representative of Duke University. We have twenty minutes left. Do you have questions?”
She nodded. “I have been warned that I will get calls from the media and I need to be prepared for that. I need some background on the Domestic Policy Council, what the role of the sub-committee will be, and what will be my role as a presenter?”
“Good questions. Let’s get you the answers.” Professor Mitchell signaled for her to sit down and Amy sat with some relief. He moved on to the other students, getting information from them and filling up the whiteboards. He was able to draw out from the class that the Domestic Policy Council went back to the Johnson White House, it included the cabinet Secretaries and administrators of federal agencies, and Miss La Reine as a presenter would not have a vote.
The Professor was watching the clock and called a halt to the discussion. The monitors around the lecture hall came on; the screens showed the White House Press Room full of media people and television cameras waiting for the President to arrive. People stood as the President entered the room. The President put his notes down on the podium and signaled everyone to sit down. The camera focused in on the President and the Presidential Seal on the podium in front of him.
One of her friends, seeing that Amy had been overwhelmed, had taken notes for her. He passed them over. Amy, on seeing the notes realized that she had suffered a brain freeze; she was relieved to see that his handwriting was legible. She whispered, “Thanks, Luke.”
“As you know,” said the President, arranging his notes, “there has been much conjecture on whether I would veto the Social Security Bill. The Bill provides much needed funding for programs, and many people have advised the White House to accept it with its faults and look to amending the Bill later. However, others have advised the White House that the Bill is seriously flawed and needs to be vetoed. I am sure you have all watched the debate with some interest. We heard many comments and opinions that were valid and important, but one statement stuck with me and made me look at this Bill in a new way.”
The President paused to let those comments be absorbed. They did not know yet if he would or wouldn’t veto the bill.
He continued, leaning towards the cameras. “A few weeks ago I was at a function and sat at a table with a young lady who is in her fourth year of Political Science at Duke University. I imposed on her, as Presidents are likely to do,” that got a few polite laughs, “and asked her opinion of the current Social Security Bill. She told me her opinion and said one other thing that made me reflect on the decision I would make. She told me that the Bill was not based on the right principles, and when I asked her what principles, she told me that the Bill should focus on the fact that people were important, not programs.”
The camera panned back and they could see the stir in the media seats. It was clear now that the President would veto the bill. In the lecture hall, many of the students were looking at Amy, but she focused on the screens thinking how a few unrehearsed words had put her in this position.
“This young lady was right, as were many other people. The Bill is flawed and I have decided to veto it.” The President paused to let this sink in; “However, these funds are needed, and people need them quickly. The White House has already created a sub-committee of the Domestic Policy Council, which has been given the task of drafting a new Social Security Bill acceptable to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The First Lady has agreed to chair the sub-committee. A terms of reference for the sub-committee and a proposed timetable will be handed out. Questions?”
“Mr. President,” from the senior media correspondent who always had the first chance at a question, “who was the young lady who gave you these comments?”
“I am pleased to inform you that we have asked that young lady, Amy La Reine, of Duke University,” said the President, “to make a presentation to the sub-committee, where she will present her viewpoints on the new bill. Her profile and the information on the members sitting on the sub-committee are in the package.”
The questions from the media continued for a while, eventually becoming repetitive. At that point, the President thanked them for their time, picked up his notes, and left the room. The cameras pulled back to show the whole room. Professor Mitchell signaled one of his assistants to switch the screens off.
“There you have it ladies and gentlemen,” Professor Mitchell told the students, adding with a smile, “There’s nothing like politics when you’re involved. We will have to do some catching up so we will cover three chapters of the text over the next two lectures, so read chapters 5, 6 and 7 for next week. You are all dismissed early except for Miss La Reine.”
There were a few minor groans at the extra reading but most students were too excited by what had happened to care. There was a buzz of excitement, and the sound of many cellphones being turned on as they exited the lecture hall.
Amy made her way down to Professor Mitchell. As she reached the floor her cellphone vibrated. Amy pulled it out to look at the call display. It was her parent’s phone number. “It’s my parents,” Amy announced to the Professor. He signaled for her to go ahead, but to hurry. Amy took the call, quickly explaining that she only knew about the invitation thirty minutes before. She told them that she had to talk to her Professor and she’d call them later.
The Professor had finished packing everything into his briefcase. “We have twenty minutes, so I am going to introduce you to the Department Chair; he knows we’re coming.” Professor Mitchell led Amy through the hallways to the Chair’s office. He told Amy as they walked, “All your assignments for this course are now cancelled. Use the time to prepare for your presentation. You’ll only have to hand in a copy of the presentation to pass this course. Only what is public, of course. The Chair will approve your absence for the presentation and any other events, and you will not lose any marks or credits for any course impacted.”
When she reached the Chair’s office, the Professor took her right in. “Well, Amy,” said the Chair enthusiastically, shaking her hand, “I watched the President’s announcement. I imagine it’s overwhelming right now?”
Amy nodded, remembering to take a breath, “Yes Chair Dunning, it is. Once I know more about this sub-committee I’ll feel better.”
“True!” said Chair Dunning. “I’ve arranged for all of the material from the White House to come to this office, where it will be held confidentially until you pick it up.” He added with a smile, “There are too many curious minds at the dorm.” Amy realized that the Chair and Professor had dealt with something like this before, which, in some ways, made her feel better. Chair Dunning continued, “Professor Mitchell and I are going to work on organizing this from the University end, and if you need any assistance just get hold of Professor Mitchell, or my office, and we will do everything we can. We’ve both worked at the White House in our careers, so remember you’re not alone in this.”
Amy nodded; she seemed to be doing a lot of that! “Thank you Chair Dunning, I really appreciate that.”
Chair Dunning gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure you do. Remember this is a great opportunity for you; just enjoy it! The White House will only give out this office number so that your studies aren’t interrupted. That’s it for now; we’ll coordinate with June Pickering at the White House. Give your cellphone number to Susan, my Ex
ecutive Assistant, and we’ll let you know when each package arrives.” Chair Dunning shook her hand warmly as she left.
Amy left the Chair’s office, after giving her cellphone number to Susan. Later that day she had her first call from Susan. “A package from the White House has been received. It’s all of the material handed out to the media after the President’s announcement, plus details on your meeting with the President next week. You have seventeen messages, so far, from newspapers, radio and television stations. Can you come over to work on a University press release? We’ll have our communications people here at the Chair’s office at three this afternoon, and they can help you with responding to the media as well. You’ve been excused from your lecture at that time and any resulting assignments.”
Chapter 26 – Friends and Enemies
General Hardisty presented his orders to the Corporal at the desk. The Corporal stood up, saluted, and with careful respect addressed the General, “Just a moment Sir, Captain Jamieson is expecting you.” The Corporal left to deliver the orders to the Captain.
General Hardisty smiled. About time there was some efficiency; those stupid scientists in his last posting wouldn’t know ‘discipline’ if you wrote it on their whiteboards. The General watched the Captain move quickly out of his office to stop in front of him and salute. General Hardisty returned the salute.
“Welcome to your new posting, General Hardisty. We’ve prepared a full briefing for you in the Situation Room. I think you’ll be impressed, Sir. Even the Pentagon is not aware of how advanced some of our systems are.”
The Captain led him into the Situation Room, introducing the General to the Unit staff, and starting the presentation on the role and activities of ASurT, the Army Surveillance Technology Evaluation Unit. The General, even he thought of himself as ‘The General’, was very pleased by what he heard. Rather than some backwater posting, he’d used his friends, allies and favors owed to have his discipline reassessed as ‘a regrettable error caused by stress’ and here he was, based on his past record of commanding technology focused units, commanding a Military Intelligence Unit evaluating new technology. Perfect!
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