The President's Book of Secrets Page #7

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on the United States using

airplanes.

That Bush knew about this, and

let the 9/11 attack take place

in order to get his enemy.

There are even more lurid

versions of the Bush conspiracy

theory that, in fact, the

attackers on 9/11 were U.S.

Intelligence operatives.

Narrator:
But if such

audacious claims were even

partially true, wouldn't

President Bush's political

rivals have eagerly exposed it?

Lichtman:
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, 'cause everything leaks.

And I guarantee, if the

President had tried to

orchestrate something like 9/11,

there would have been

catastrophic leaks.

Luttwak:
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.

Gingrich:
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 stem to 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 U.S. military

reported that an alien spaceship

had crash-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

air base in Nevada called

Area 51.

Paglen:
There is nothing

around Area 51 for hundreds of

miles, really.

I mean, you drive on a long,

long dirt road, and there are

ground sensors in that road, so

that base security know that

you're coming.

Eventually you arrive at just

really at a series of signs--

there's not really 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 there were

aliens there.

Narrator:
But could such a

fantastic claim be true?

And, if so, wouldn't the U.S.

President know about it?

O'Brien:
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, ask their

predecessor, "All right, come

on, what's the deal with alien

technology?"

Quayle:
The alien situation

is very interesting, because we

had the same issue.

I mean, there are people out

there, uh, 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.

Lichtman:
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.

O'Brien:
In 1969, Jimmy

Carter was on his way to a

Lion's 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.

Lichtman:
There was an

investigation into Area 51

during the Clinton

Administration.

There are 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.

Paglen:
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 have 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.

(Gunshot)

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?

Narrator:
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.

(Joseph Petro) 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 gonna be like.

(Ron Kessler) When a person is

under protection, of course,

they're being shadowed,

basically, all the time, except

when they go to the bathroom

and when they sleep at night,

when they're in their private

residence.

But even then, of course,

they're watched from the

outside.

Keller:
There were 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 1,"

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.

Neely:
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 okay.

Alter:
Clinton and Obama

both said the same thing.

They feel like they're in a

gilded cage, almost in a prison,

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