>> NARRATOR: It is home to the most powerful person in the
world. It is a center of global
military power. And it is one of the most
heavily-protected fortresses ever built.
But behind the classic columns and lush, green lawns are
secrets. Secrets so outrageous...
>> Some systems were installed post-9/11, but I don't want to
talk about it. >> NARRATOR: ...so
controversial... >> They were right with the
President, and they hadn't even been invited.
>> NARRATOR: ...so dangerous... >> In the event that there might
be a threat, there are ways of moving the President in the
White House. >> NARRATOR: ...that they must
be kept hidden from the public. >> The White House is a Mecca
for all these nuts wanting to go after the President, so they
will show up at the White House, and, uh, try to get in.
>> NARRATOR: There are those who believe in the existence of a
book. A book that contains the most
highly-guarded secrets of the United States of America.
A book... whose very existence is known to
only a select few. But if such a book exists, what
would it contain? Secret histories?
Secret plans? Secret... lies?
Does there really exist... America's Book of Secrets?
It is the most public of private residences, and the most private
of public buildings. Because while the White House
serves as home and office for each American President, it is
>> STEVEN FORD: The best way to describe it is, it's like living
in a museum. It's kind of hard to feel
comfortable, to make it your own.
(sirens blaring) >> SUSAN FORD: The hardest
adjustment is the press and the comings and the goings.
For me to get from the house to my dad's office, you'd have to
walk by the press room. It was people always knowing
where you are and what you're doing, and notifying people.
>> STEVEN: I used to walk by the White House, just like you or I
would, and look through those bars, those gates, and wonder
what the heck they do in there. And all of a sudden, ten months
later, I find myself standing there, because my dad's become
President of the United States. It didn't make any sense.
The Nixons left so quickly, so unexpectedly.
I mean, the resignation was unexpected at that time.
And they didn't have time to pack up all their belongings and
their clothes. So that night, we had to go back
to our little house in Alexandria, Virginia, and we
lived in that house for the first six, seven days of Dad's
presidency. >> NARRATOR: Little preparation
can be given for the radical changes the first family will
face while living at the White House, especially when it comes
to the loss of privacy. >> STEVEN: You might walk by one
of the tours. As you're coming in, they might
be going by and going to the East Room or the Blue Room or
something like that, and you would see 'em, and I...
A lot of times, I'd stop, shake hands, say hello, and...
You know, it's your home, but you're also welcoming the
public. >> KENNETH WALSH: I think people
would be surprised by-- the private White House is a very
artificial place. Presidents don't get a lot of
privacy. Presidents are sort of living a
very... a very abnormal existence.
So you wonder how they cope with this.
Some do better than others. >> STEVEN: One of the classic
stories about that, you know, that realness of, this is what
happens, uh... My parents had a golden
retriever, Liberty, and one night, Liberty woke Dad up and
had to go to the bathroom, so Dad put his bathrobe on over his
pajamas, came down the family elevator to the first floor of
the White House and went out, I think it was the diplomatic
entrance. And here it is, like, 2:00 in
the morning. He takes the dog out to do its
business, like any husband has to do in their own home.
He gets ready to go back in, and the door's locked, and the
Secret Service don't know he's out there.
And here's the President of the United States, at 2:00 in the
morning, standing there in his pajamas, trying to get his dog
back in the house, and the door's locked.
>> SUSAN: I think of us as, who've lived there, as a
fraternity or a sorority or a club.
We don't know everybody. You don't get to know them very
well, but you have secrets that only you can tell each other.
>> NARRATOR: To ensure the safety of the First Family,
every aspect of their daily needs is monitored, including
the food they eat and the gifts they receive.
>> W. RALPH BASHAM: The food that goes into the White House
is screened at a remote site, before it ever gets to the White
House itself, so a lot of precautions are taken to ensure
that whatever meals or whatever food that's going to be provided
at the White House is thoroughly screened.
>> RONALD KESSLER: If food comes as a gift, unless it's from
someone who's a very close friend or family member, the
Secret Service will just throw it away.
Um, and I think, you know, even friends and family learn that
they shouldn't bring food into the White House.
>> NARRATOR: Protecting those who live and work at the White
House extends not only to the food they eat, but also to the
very air they breathe. >> KESSLER: In the White House
itself, when people enter, they're automatically put
through not only, of course, metal detection, but also,
detection of radiological devices.
The air in the White House is filtered.
The air in the White House also is increased in pressure so that
if there is some biological element introduced, it'll be
expelled. >> NATASHA NEELEY: The West Wing
has radiation detectors, and I know this because when I was
giving a West Wing tour, Secret Service, I believe, got a silent
alarm, or something came in over their earpieces, and they locked
down the area that we were in. And they said that someone had
brought in some form of radiation, and they needed to
figure out what it was before anyone was allowed to move
forward or leave the area. It turned out that someone was
going through radiation therapy, but I found that really
interesting to learn that they have those type of security
things that they don't just advertise, even to all staff.
>> NARRATOR: Of course, the White House is not only the
Chief Executive's home and office.
It is also a command center for nearly 1,700 employees who come
to work there every day. But before anyone works for the
President or his family, they must be cleared through a
background check known as Yankee White.
>> WALSH: Everybody who gets cleared into the White House
permanently, as a regular thing, has to go through a secret
security clearance process, to look into your background and
so on. >> NEELEY: When I first was
asked to be an intern, we were told to fill out a form called
an SF-86, which, basically, is where they ask you every single
little detail about your life. Um, more than you ever could
remember. And you're going through old
pictures, old notes. Being, like, "Oh, my gosh, what
was that address ten years ago?" And, "Oh, what date did I go on
that trip?" And then, the FBI goes around
and investigates to make sure everything on that SF-86 is
accurate and true. They interview your friends, um,
your family, your neighbors, your old bosses to make sure
that they know every single thing about you.
>> NARRATOR: But once employed, can the White House staff and
personnel go anywhere within the building, or are there secrets
so highly-prized and highly-guarded that only a
handful of the most trusted employees can have access to
>> WALSH: There are pins that people use, they have on their
lapels, in addition to the badges that people might see on
TV images. The pins are the most prized,
because you can get the close-access-to-family badge,
where you can get pretty much all the access.
That's what the... the First Lady would wear those,
the children, and so on, and some very senior staff members.
>> NARRATOR: But if White House employees are so thoroughly
checked and monitored, how do visitors and members of the
public get in? How hard is it to visit the
White House? And what kind of security is
required to protect the world's most powerful person?
Coming up... >> BENNIE G. THOMPSON: There
were failures of the entire Secret Service.
>> TAREQ SALAHI: We found ourselves in the receiving line
to meet the President. >> KESSLER: The same night that
the Salahis crashed the state dinner, there was a third
intruder. >> WALSH: That was the worst
breakdown at a social event that I've ever seen.
>> NARRATOR: While the White House serves as the private home
of one of the world's most highly guarded families, it is
also the only residence of a head of state that is open to
the public, and although security at the Executive
Mansion has tightened over the years, interest in visiting 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue has existed for centuries.
>> WALSH: If there was a passage in America's Book of Secrets on
the White House, it probably would deal with the security
there, because it used to be that it was thought of as the
People's House. Presidents, years ago, would
entertain everyday people who could just walk to the White
House, get in, and talk to the President.
>> CLAIRE WHITCOMB: Souvenir hunting has been a problem at
the White House over the two centuries of its existence.
After Lincoln's second inaugural, there were people
cutting the crimson curtains. They must have come armed with
pocket knives and things like that.
Pieces of carpet were cut. It was just pillaged.
>> NARRATOR: Believe it or not, even famous celebrities have
shown up at the White House uninvited.
On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley appeared at the gates,
asking to see President Nixon. And although the rock and roll
dignitary known as The King was welcomed in, his visit was very
much kept under wraps.
>> KESSLER: It was all done secretly because Nixon didn't
want to let the public know that he was seeing Elvis.
Like everybody else, Nixon was enamored with Elvis and his
songs, and at the same time, he thought it would be embarrassing
if the public knew that he had an interest in meeting Elvis
Presley.
>> NARRATOR: But for the thousands who visit the White
House each year, access to certain areas of the home and
the President are strictly off- limits, and when access is
breached, it becomes a matter of national security.
On November 24, 2009, 400 guests attended a White House state
dinner honoring the Prime Minister of India.
Among the attendees were Tareq and Michaele Salahi.
According to the White House, the couple had arrived
uninvited. But if so, how did they manage
to get past one of the tightest security systems in the world?
How could a suburban couple get past several security
checkpoints, dozens of plainclothes uniformed security
>> TAREQ: At the first gate, we present our real names, we show
our real IDs. And the Secret Service agent at
the first entrance is going through the guest list, doesn't
immediately see our name on the guest list, but tells us to
proceed to the second checkpoint.
And we do. >> BASHAM: A very confusing
situation, uh, existed there at the first checkpoint, there at
15th and E Street, and one individual decided that these
individuals looked like they belonged.
I don't know how else to explain it.
>> NARRATOR: After gaining access onto the White House
grounds, the Salahis passed through a second security
checkpoint, stationed near the main building.
>> TAREQ: We are in a line. We meet with Katie Couric.
She's in line with us. We start chatting with her, and
we are getting checked in now. So now there's this... another
Secret Service checkpoint here. This person was not in a
uniformed Secret Service outfit. This person was in coat and tie.
And at this point, there's a checklist.
And they're checking everybody off.
And we present our I.D.'s, present our real names, and we
get checked off... at the second checkpoint.
We're now proceeding into the White House, into the reception
area, where there are magnetometers and X-ray
machines, and we get screened from, you know, purses to going
through the metal detector. We go through that, get
processed there, and checked in. We're now in a line; a line
going into the, uh... if you will, the "red carpet" of
the White House, where you're announced.
>> ANNOUNCER: Mr. and Mrs. Salahi.
>> TAREQ: It's an incredible feeling, and it's just an honor
being in the White House. Especially being announced by
the White House, being welcomed by the White House.
And at this point, we are... we are... this is better than
our wedding.
We found ourselves in the receiving line to meet the
President. And we met with, uh, the
President of the United States, President Obama.
Then the First Lady. And then the Prime Minister.
And then his wife. >> WALSH: They had their
pictures taken with the President, which is remarkable,
because they were right with the President and the First Lady,
and they hadn't even been invited.
So that was the worst breakdown, certainly, at a social event,
that I've ever seen. And, uh, that caused a huge
fuss, and people were fired over that, or left because of that.
>> THOMPSON: There were undeniable planning and
execution failures of the entire Secret Service apparatus.
>> NARRATOR: While the Salahis maintain that they had come to
the White House event as invited guests, many believe the
secret to their successful entrance was merely looking
the part. >> WALSH: The Salahis were
actually able to talk their way in.
It's not that they were particularly known-- that's what
made it so bizarre-- but they were all dressed up, and they
looked like they belonged there. >> KESSLER: But when the Salahis
crashed the state dinner at the White House, they were not on
the guest list. They had not been cleared by the
Secret Service, as a result, and the Secret Service uniformed
officers simply ignored the fact that they were not on the guest
list. >> WALSH: Usually, the security
at the White House is very intense, and at the social
events, it's very intense. They have staff members from the
social secretary's office, with lists of people who are entitled
to come in, who are invited. There's a number of those folks
at the gates, always checking people off.
Then they have another checkoff. And there's still another list.
But in this particular case, the system broke down.
>> NARRATOR: But while the Salahis undoubtedly became the
White House's two most infamous unwanted guests, there were only
a handful who knew about the other, even more mysterious,
visitor who attended the same event that night.
>> KESSLER: The same night that the Salahis crashed the state
dinner, there was a third intruder, Carlos Allen.
And, uh, the way that he was uncovered was that Secret
Service surveillance cameras spotted him going to the dinner,
and nobody knew who he was. They knew that he was not on the
guest list. They finally figured out who he
was. He had intruded with the Indian
delegation, uh, got into the White House, and the Secret
Service again ignored the fact that he was not on the guest
list. >> BASHAM: It's, uh, just
demonstrates that all of the work of all of the people,
and-and all of the systems, and all of the processes... one
individual, if they don't do their job, can literally destroy
all of that work. It wasn't a pleasant time.
>> I feel confident-- based on what I've heard, based on what
I've seen, based on what I've been briefed on-- that they
did not provide a risk to the President.
>> NARRATOR: But while uninvited guests may be more of an
embarrassment than a security threat, how is the White House
prepared to deal with more serious and secret situations?
And what rooms and tunnels exist within its walls that can help
protect the President and the nation during a deadly attack?
Coming up: >> JOE HAGIN: The capability
certainly exists, in the Situation Room, to watch
live broadcasts. I don't believe any other leader
in the world has the communications and technology
capabilities that are available. And that's the way it has to be.
>> NARRATOR: It is one of the most critical intelligence
Located in the West Wing, just below the Oval Office, the
Situation Room serves as an advanced communications
headquarters where America's commander in chief can monitor
and control U.S. military forces around the world.
>> BRAD PATTERSON: One of the subjects brought up with every
President-elect, uh, as soon as he becomes elected, as part of
his briefings, is the Situation Room and how it works and the
information that comes in. Mr. Obama, for instance, on his
first day in office, went down to the Sit Room and just had a
conversation with some of his military people.
>> MICHAEL BOHN: There's a huge misperception in the general
public about what goes on down there.
They think it's just a meeting room, but it really is more than
a room; it's... it's an intelligence center.
>> NARRATOR: Measuring approximately 5,000 square feet,
the Situation Room's technological capabilities are,
for now, top secret. >> BOHN: Today, the President
could not do his job without the White House Situation Room.
First and foremost, the Situation Room is the
President's alert center. The most important
responsibility is to make sure the President knows what's going
on around the world. Secondly, it's a meeting room, a
place where he can go, either in crisis or meet with his advisors
in a secure, safe place. Thirdly, it's his communications
center, and whether it's dedicated communications between
the President and the Prime Minister in Great Britain, or
whether it's connection to the CIA's communications systems or
DOD's, it's all the same.
>> NARRATOR: But while it is officially called the Situation
Room, White House insiders know it by another, more secret name.
>> DOUG WEAD: One of Nixon's aides, who later became the
national security, uh, advisor to President Clinton, Tony Lake,
um, Alexander Haig said, "Come on, you want to go with me to
"the Situation Room? Henry Kissinger is going to take
the CIA to the woodshed." Lake thought the room was the
Woodshed, so it ended up getting... getting that name.
>> JOHN F. KENNEDY: It shall be the policy of this nation to
regard any nuclear missile, launched from Cuba against any
nation in the Western Hemisphere, as an attack.
>> NARRATOR: It was the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion
in 1961 that prompted President John F. Kennedy to create the
Situation Room as a way to improve real-time
communications, current intelligence and crisis support.
>> BOHN: The 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. So he arranged to build a
facility on the ground floor of the White House, and he called
it the International Situation Room, and it was shortened to
the Situation Room. >> NARRATOR: National Security
Advisor McGeorge Bundy equipped the center with state-of-the-art
technology, including a hotline to the Russian Kremlin.
But, contrary to popular belief, the famous hotline was not, in
>> HAGIN: The hotline to the Kremlin was a Teletype device.
It allowed for more security, uh, of the... of the information
that was flowing across it. Someone felt that, by not being
a voice connection, eliminated confusion from translation and
it was easier to, uh, communicate very precisely,
which would be needed in an emergency.
That degree of precision was increased by having a written
word versus, uh, a spoken word. >> NARRATOR: But during the Cold
War, few knew that the White House installed another secret
phone system. >> BOHN: The State Department
established what was called a warm link, as an alternative to
the hot link, in order to foster more routine communications.
But it was an alternative, because people wanted to keep
the hotline for crises only and not diminish its circumstance.
In fact, Carter went against that grain and used it for
routine communication. And Brzezinski warned him not to
do it because it would perhaps undercut the importance of it
during crises.
>> NARRATOR: Like the rest of the White House, the Situation
Room has been renovated and rebuilt, and has grown in size,
scope and strategic importance as the threats to the nation
have changed.
>> HAGIN: Following 9/11 and during a period of war, the
Situation Room really proved, uh, inadequate in terms of its
capabilities. We made the decision that, uh,
the facility needed to be modernized.
We needed, uh, more conference rooms to have classified
conversations in. And then the, uh, facility was
really taken down to the brick and the dirt floor.
It was totally gutted top to bottom, and in the process of
doing that, we exposed a lot of very old wiring, and it's a
miracle that the West Wing's not burned to the ground.
>> NARRATOR: Today, the Situation Room, or "Sit Room,"
is composed of approximately 30 personnel organized around
five watch teams that monitor both domestic and international
events. >> PATTERSON: The Situation
Room, of course, is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
with a staff of people on duty there.
And these telegrams come in from State or from Defense or
CIA constantly, in the Situation Room.
If it's anything that is significant for the President,
they'll wake him up right away. >> BOHN: There are no levers
that the President reaches over and pulls or twists knobs or
pushes buttons to launch missiles and all that sort
of thing. What happens is he meets with
the people that he trusts in that room, and then they go off
to their places, and that's where they push the buttons and
pull the levers. >> NARRATOR: Several times each
day, the teams distill the latest real-time information
into reports that are prepared for the President.
>> BOHN: The CIA... the Director of National Intelligence in the
CIA sends down a once daily President's daily brief, which
has the most sensitive information available to... and
gives it to the President. But right next to it in the
folder is the Situation Room daily summary, which goes out
three times a day. And that covers everything else.
And so the President keeps track of things on a daily basis
through the help of the Situation Room.
>> JEFF HARLEY: This is the watch floor of the White House
Situation Room. And the watch floor's commodity
is situational awareness. We're a fusion center, meaning
that we fuse approximately 2,000 pieces of information
One of the cool features of this particular room in the White
House Situation Room is the opportunity to provide privacy
for the President if he's making a head-of-state phone call from
the Situation Room itself. And what we'll do is we'll be
able to fog the windows to give him that level of privacy.
>> PATTERSON: Now the President can engage in face-to-face, top
secret teleconference conversations with other leaders
of the world. He's got that equipment, for
instance, with the Chancellor of Germany, with the Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom, and with, uh, military people like General
Patraeus.
>> HAGIN: There's the famous picture in the Situation Room of
President Obama and Secretary Clinton and the staff during the
mission that went after Osama bin Laden.
The capability certainly exists, within the Situation Room,
to watch live broadcasts.
I don't believe any other leader in the world has the, uh,
communications and technology capabilities that are available
to the President of the United States.
And that's the way it has to be. >> NARRATOR: But as much as the
Situation Room can help the President function during a
national crisis, just how safe is the White House from a
physical attack?
Coming up... >> AL V. CORBI: Level seven is
armor-piercing. You'd have something like this
to protect against projectiles coming in.
>> HAGIN: Facts regarding the President's safety and security
have to remain secret. It'll remain so.
>> NARRATOR: In 2010, a major classified construction project
broke ground on the north lawn of the White House.
While officials claim the work was to upgrade utilities for the
East and West Wings, the project's top secret price tag
led many to speculate it was a much more serious undertaking.
But could the project really have been intended to serve a
>> KESSLER: The new construction at the White House grounds is
simply more facilities in the event of an attack to, uh, guard
the President and to allow the White House to function with
many aides, even though an attack may be occurring.
>> HAGIN: A lot of the information regarding the
President's safety and security, and that of the White House, by
their nature, have to remain secret.
You can't give your adversary a hand in understanding how to
defeat your systems and your procedures.
It is secret, and it'll remain so.
>> NARRATOR: Over the past 200 years, the function of the White
House has grown beyond just being the President's personal
residence. It has become the nation's
center of executive power-- a strategic location that has
required the home to become more like a fortress.
>> PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT: December 7, 1941, a date which will live
in infamy.
>> WILLIAM SEALE: Pearl Harbor was such a shock.
Engineers then, they began to look after the President's
safety. Many people wanted him to move
and to go somewhere else to a secret place, but he wouldn't
do it. And he said, "The President
belongs here." Of course, President Roosevelt
was in a wheelchair. And so that worried them even
more about moving him around. So several things came up.
One was that they closed off all the skylight.
They covered them all with paint.
He did let them put wet sand in a bucket and a gas mask in every
bedroom. >> NARRATOR: But what never
changed was the color of the structure, even in times of war.
>> SEALE: They asked President Roosevelt if they could paint
the house camouflage. Camo... (laughs)
And he said, "No, you cannot."
>> NARRATOR: But perhaps one of the biggest of the White House's
many secrets is the fact that the current building is actually
less than 70 years old... having been extensively
remodeled in the late 1940s by President Harry Truman.
>> SEALE: Truman's daughter Margaret's piano leg fell
through two boards, and they said, "Out."
So he moved to Blair House. And a survey was done of the
house, and the Corps got to Truman.
One of the men told me, who was an engineer who surveyed the
house at that time, that you could walk between the plaster
ceiling and the wooden structure of the East Room-- I mean, you
couldn't stand up-- but it was four feet it had dropped.
>> NARRATOR: After securing the funds from Congress, Truman
authorized the 147-year-old residence to be gutted from the
inside and meticulously rebuilt from the original blueprints.
But was the construction done purely for the safety of the
First Family or might there have been another, more secret
reason? Was the renovation an
opportunity to clear the house of any Cold War spying devices?
Or was it an occasion to harden the executive offices against
any potential atomic threats? Between 1948 and 1952, engineers
replaced all the wood-frame substructure with concrete and
state-of-the-art steel beams. >> SEALE: They tore off the
attic and roof and created a new roof that was a bigger pitch,
but not so much that it would be a hat from the street.
And they added some bedrooms and some storage rooms and things,
all in steel.
They built a steel structure just inside the original walls,
and new foundations were given to the original wall, so they
don't support anything but themselves.
And each room is a steel cage. And the whole house was rebuilt
in steel and then the plaster put on steel lath.
And the idea was that it would be a house for the ages.
>> NARRATOR: Today, the exterior sandstone walls are all that
remain of the original White House.
But could Truman's extensive renovation project have really
been a cover for changes to the building that were meant to be
hidden from the public? Changes similar to the those
undertaken in 2010?
Research on the effects of a Hiroshima-sized explosion set
off at a midpoint along Pennsylvania Avenue suggest that
the White House, with its reinforced concrete, low-lying
silhouette and large surrounding buildings would sustain less
damage than the Capitol Building.
Equally critical to ensure the President's protection are the
invisible defenses built into the White House itself.
While the exact specifications remain classified, it is
believed the entire building has been modified to be practically
>> CORBI: Not long ago, this is what you needed to protect
against armor-piercing. As you can see, it's about four
inches thick. It's a combination of glass and
polycarbonates. And though it's very clear, it's
still very heavy, very thick. It's an intense piece of
product. Since then, the glass has gotten
much thinner. And actually, there are even
space-age polymers available this thin and light.
It also has amazing stopping power.
A very lightweight material. Once you've protected your
glass, you want to start considering your walls, ceilings
and floors. Now, if you can imagine, this is
the kind of thing that is typically done in buildings to
achieve a Level Seven. Level Seven is armor-piercing.
So, if we were to be doing a high-level government
facility, say something like the White House, it would be
reasonable to assume that you'd have something like this
throughout the walls, ceilings and floors of the rooms that you
really wanted to protect against projectiles coming in.
>> NARRATOR: Is it possible that the President is heartening the
White House even further, perhaps expecting a direct
attack? While the White House is
fortified against acts of war, just how vulnerable is the
President and his family to an attempted assassination?
(shouting) >> NARRATOR: In the age of
terrorism and political assassination...
(gunfire) ...just how safe is the White
House? And are there secret measures in
place to keep the President and his family secure?
>> KESSLER: The White House is sort of a Mecca for all these
nuts in the world who, who want to just go after authority.
The President is the top enchilada, and so they will show
up at the White House and, uh, try to get in.
>> BASHAM: The Service takes those threats, regardless of
whether it's against the President, the Vice President,
members of the family, uh, the White House itself, very
seriously, and investigates to make sure that they get a full
understanding of exactly what that threat is, and how to
mitigate it.
>> NARRATOR: The first lines of defense against White House
intruders are the visible deterrents, such as the iron
fence lining the perimeter, and the guards patrolling the White
House grounds. But there are also security
measures hidden from the public eye.
>> KESSLER: The, uh, White House grounds are protected by a
complete array of sensors that detect heat, motion.
If anything is detected, the Secret Service comes running.
The uniformed officers of the Secret Service, in particular,
are in charge of guarding the White House grounds and the
White House itself. And they have dogs that will
attack an intruder. If necessary, they will shoot
>> PERINO: The Secret Service is one of the most professional
organizations. They put their lives on the line
every single day, protecting the President.
(gunfire) (onlookers scream)
>> NARRATOR: Over the years, a number of armed or otherwise
dangerous intruders have attacked the White House.
In 1974, Robert Preston, a young Army private, hovered above the
south lawn in a stolen helicopter.
White House guards responded with a barrage of gunfire,
forcing Preston to land. Slightly injured and clad in
fatigues, the hijacker was apprehended and admitted for
psychiatric observation. >> JUSTICE REHNQUIST: I, George
Walker Bush, do solemnly swear...
>> PRESIDENT BUSH: I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly
swear... (siren wailing)
>> REPORTER: ...gunshots, the sound of gunshots on the south
side of the White House... >> NARRATOR: In February, 2001,
two weeks after George W. Bush's inauguration, Robert W. Pickett,
a former IRS employee with a history of mental illness and
suicide attempts, waved a gun at tourists and police outside the
White House... firing several shots.
A Secret Service agent shot him in the knee after a ten-minute
standoff. November 11, 2011.
Oscar Ortega-Hernandez, a 21-year-old man from Idaho,
fired a semi-automatic assault rifle from a passing car.
The bullets struck near the residential quarters.
>> BASHAM: Recently, you had a situation where there was
someone shooting at the White House.
Fortunately, they had the appropriate level of security
there that prevented any penetration of those rounds from
actually getting into the interior of the White House
itself.
>> NARRATOR: But one of the most unusual attacks on the White
House came on September 11, 1994.
Just before midnight, Frank Corder, a 38-year-old Army
veteran suffering from depression, stole a Cessna plane
and flew it towards the White House.
Seven minutes out, air traffic controllers stationed at the
National Airport picked up the Cessna on their radar screens.
Corder crashed the plane directly on the south lawn,
missing the White House by just a few feet.
While reports indicate Corder committed suicide, many
speculated that he was, in fact, shot down.
Could there be, as some believe, anti-aircraft missiles on top of
the White House? >> BASHAM: And people just
assumed that the White House had all of those advanced mechanisms
in place, and when the Cessna flew into the White House,
people were asking, "How can that happen?"
But since then, I can assure you, there have been defense
mechanisms put in place that would prevent that sort of
>> HAGIN: If you go back, in the Washington Post, when we were
in the Bush administration, there was a picture on the front
page of some systems that were installed post-9/11.
So you can... unearth your own secret, that way, but I
don't want to, I don't want to talk about it.
>> NARRATOR: But with all the corridors, offices, tunnels, and
secret areas of the White House, is there one area that is safest
and most secure of all? A place where the President and
his family can go in the event of a national emergency?
>> BASHAM: Obviously, I'm not going to be able to say
specifically, but just let's say that there are ways of moving
the President and the First Family around in the event that
there might be a threat in the White House.
>> NARRATOR: Some speculate that the safest area of the White
House is the secret underground facility located below the East
Wing, known as the PEOC, or President's Emergency Operations
Center. Originally constructed as a bomb
shelter by President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II,
the PEOC has been designed to withstand a nuclear attack.
>> BOHN: 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, canned water, and
all that. Cheney, Condie Rice, and a few
other people rode out the storm on 9/11 in the PEOC.
>> NARRATOR: With the contingency plans seamlessly
followed on 9/11, the nation and its leaders can be confident
that the most public of private homes is today safe and secure.
For over 200 years, the White House has more than met George
Washington's original intention: To house, serve, and protect the
President of the United States and his family.
But perhaps the greatest secret the White House holds is that
each passing President is a temporary resident in what is
actually a home that belongs to every American.
>> STEVEN FORD: I look at our family, and... what a blessing.
I mean, to live there at that very unique time.
This is America's home, it's-it's not our home.
We want to cherish it, we want to enjoy it, but you want to
respect it. It's not the First Family's
home, it's America's home. Captioning sponsored by
A&E TELEVISION NETWORKS