# Lower the Cone of Silence! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422 "2017-09-27T14:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/1 "2017-09-27T14:26:00Z")
Viewers of **Get Smart!** will remember the Cone of Silence: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/94/Get_Smart-Cone-of-silence.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/94/Get_Smart-Cone-of-silence.jpg) > **[Cone of Silence (Get Smart)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_of_Silence_(device))** > > The Cone of Silence is one of many recurring joke devices from Get Smart, a 1960s American comedy television series about an inept spy. The essence of the joke is that the apparatus, designed for secret conversations, makes it impossible for those inside the device – and easy for those outside the device – to hear the conversation. > The larger, plastic version of the "Cone of Silence" appeared in "Mr. Big", the pilot episode of Get Smart, which aired on September 18, 1965. Mel Brooks and Buck He... [https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Get+Smart+Cone+of+Silence&view=detail&mid=A94DABE62A90005CEEEBA94DABE62A90005CEEEB&FORM=VIRE](https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Get+Smart+Cone+of+Silence&view=detail&mid=A94DABE62A90005CEEEBA94DABE62A90005CEEEB&FORM=VIRE) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HWtPPWi6OMQ/hqdefault.jpg "Get Smart cone of silence 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWtPPWi6OMQ) The fictional device that was supposed to render all conversations proof against eavesdroppers (but did the opposite)\* Scott Pruitt wants a real-life one. (that works properly): > **[The EPA Is Spending $25,000 To Build Scott Pruitt A Phone Booth](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/scott-pruitt-phone-booth_n_59cb2a62e4b053a9c2f500e0?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)** > > The agency has one already. But it's on a different floor. > [@](#): > > The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to build a soundproof communications booth in Administrator Scott Pruitt’s office, according to media reports. > The Washington Post first reported details of the contract on Tuesday evening, which will cost the government $24,570. The “privacy booth” will be installed by Oct. 9, so Pruitt can have “a secured communication area in the administrator’s office so secured calls can be received and made,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told the Post in a statement. > “Federal agencies need to have one of these so that secured communications, not subject to hacking from the outside, can be held,” Bowman continued. “This is something which a number, if not all, cabinet offices have and EPA needs to have updated.” > A salesman for the company installing the booth, Acoustical Solutions, told The New York Times the contract was unusual and ended up being nearly four times the price of comparable booths after the EPA requested modifications. > “They wanted a secure phone and computer room, essentially for sensitive information,” the salesman, Steve Snider, told the Times. He noted the booths usually cost $5,000 to $6,000 but that in Pruitt’s booth, “you can’t hear what’s going on outside, but conversely people outside can’t hear what’s going on inside.” > The Post notes the EPA already has a secure phone booth on another floor of the building. Some people aren’t too pleased. Others don’t get the point: > [@](#): > > Critics have described the installation of the phone booth in Pruitt’s office as “the height of paranoia.” > “As someone who spent a lot of time in the administrator’s office, I can tell you that there was nothing like this,” Liz Purchia, a former head of communications at the EPA, told CNN. “I can’t imagine why this taxpayer expense would be necessary and why an extra-secure room is needed in his office other than to avoid staff and the Office of Homeland Security from documenting use of the room and the information that warrants protection.” > Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, also said the recent reports take accusations about transparency within the EPA “to a new extreme.” \*“Cone of Silence” is an actual thing, the “blind zone” of space that cannot be scanned because of limitations in antenna broadcasting. It really is very nearly conical in shape, unlike Get Smart’s “cone”, which is anything but (and which is undoubtedly part of the joke). I’d read about the real “Cone of Silence” as a kid, and thought it was weird when Get Smart named their device after it. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/2 "2017-09-27T15:48:41Z")
Plus he’s got an 18 man security detail around the clock. Civil Service work in Washington is more dangerous than one can imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/3 "2017-09-27T15:50:04Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Civil Service work in Washington is more dangerous than one can imagine. And loving it! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/4 "2017-09-27T16:08:48Z")
You do have to wonder – it’s the freakin’ EPA, fer cryin’ out loud – the Environmental Protection Agency – not the FBI or the CIA or a Diplomatic service. Why the hell do they even NEED a Cone of Silence? Who eavesdrops on the EPA? Why DOES God nee a Starship, anyways? ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/5 "2017-09-27T16:21:51Z")
I wish every stupid ridiculous thing our gov’ment decides to do only cost $25,000. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/6 "2017-09-27T16:21:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You do have to wonder – it’s the freakin’ EPA, fer cryin’ out loud – the Environmental Protection Agency – not the FBI or the CIA or a Diplomatic service. Why the hell do they even NEED a Cone of Silence? Who eavesdrops on the EPA? So let me make sure I understand this: Scott Pruitt wants to be able to communicate over the telephone securely, so he makes sure no one can record what he’s saying by picking up the acoustic vibrations that will hang in the air as he says it. As he says it into an electronic device that is connected to a vast network. A vast network he has no control over. And he wants to do the same thing with his computer, so that no one can see him hitting the keys, which will be translated to electrical impulses and connected to a vast network. A vast network which he has no control over. Yeah, that sounds like a sensible thing to do. :rolleyes: By the way, what kinds of things might the EPA chief be talking about that people shouldn’t know about? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/7 "2017-09-27T16:44:15Z")
Didn’t CONTROL have a _portable_ COS? Kept in a suitcase? I’d pay big money to see two grown men using something like that in public. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/8 "2017-09-27T17:18:55Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Didn’t CONTROL have a _portable_ COS? Kept in a suitcase? I’d pay big money to see two grown men using something like that in public. Not only _would_ you, you probably _are_. They want $24,570 for Pruitt’s office-sized Cone of Silence. I’m sure they can throw in a portable suitcase model for $5000 more. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/9 "2017-09-27T17:32:17Z")
At what point does government secrecy become a serious problem (if it is not already)? This is ridiculous. I mean, I could see security related to EIS records for certain military installations, but that is not handled verbally, and the actual verbal discussions could take place in a place like the “Sit-Room”. This cone of silence nonsense suggests to me that Pruitt does not want us to know about the bribey deals he will be making in order to skirt/circumvent law/public health. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/10 "2017-09-27T17:36:20Z")
WHAT? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/11 "2017-09-27T17:37:41Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > At what point does government secrecy become a serious problem (if it is not already)? This is ridiculous. I mean, I could see security related to EIS records for certain military installations, but that is not handled verbally, and the actual verbal discussions could take place in a place like the “Sit-Room”. This cone of silence nonsense suggests to me that Pruitt does not want us to know about the bribey deals he will be making in order to skirt/circumvent law/public health. But it won’t work. Anything that goes over the phone or over the internet can be compromised, and frankly, that’s a lot easier to do than trying to get a shotgun mic in place to pick up the acoustic vibrations from a windowpane or something. And don’t forget: your cel phone is working even when you think it’s turned off. The whole scheme just doesn’t make sense IMO. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why he’d need it unless what he was planning on doing was shady. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/12 "2017-09-27T17:38:28Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > WHAT? Missed it by _that_ much! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/13 "2017-09-27T17:50:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You do have to wonder – it’s the freakin’ EPA, fer cryin’ out loud – the Environmental Protection Agency – not the FBI or the CIA or a Diplomatic service. Why the hell do they even NEED a Cone of Silence? Who eavesdrops on the EPA? Plans for the preservation of the snail darter are handled on a need-to-know basis at the very highest levels of the government. If the snails were to get hold of that information it could set our whole darter posture back by decades. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/14 "2017-09-27T18:11:05Z")
Ecosystem failures due to lax regulation can have international consequences. The US has a large coastline from which toxic effluent can flow into international waters, causing fishery collapses, not to mention what effects might result with migratory birds. Pruitt probably does not want to be lynched by angry Americans, but he also probably does not want to be seen as a causal influence in a future war. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/15 "2017-09-27T18:58:01Z")
No doubt Pruitt is worried about eavesdropping by KAOS, the secret conspiracy of scientists pushing the global warming hoax. They are a cunning and evil bunch intent on destroying civilization as we know it. Ever alert to any plans that might thwart their conspiracy, they have Listening Cones aimed at the EPA, attached to powerful hearing aids. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/16 "2017-09-27T19:50:58Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Ecosystem failures due to lax regulation can have international consequences. The US has a large coastline from which toxic effluent can flow into international waters, causing fishery collapses, not to mention what effects might result with migratory birds. Pruitt probably does not want to be lynched by angry Americans, but he also probably does not want to be seen as a causal influence in a future war. "How can you hide an island?’ “You’ve heard of the thousand islands?” “Yes.” “Count them next time.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/17 "2017-09-27T20:19:54Z")
Pruitt is clearly reacting badly to his evil laugh as he was suggesting ways to remove all environmental protections. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/18 "2017-09-27T20:39:34Z")
**Robot Arm** , that line is annoyingly familiar, but I can’t remember where it’s from, and Google isn’t helping. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/19 "2017-09-27T20:41:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Robot Arm** , that line is annoyingly familiar, but I can’t remember where it’s from, and Google isn’t helping. It is from **Get Smart** of course. I think it was the Schwartz’s Island episode. (A joke about Gilligan’s Island Creator) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/20 "2017-09-27T20:46:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You do have to wonder – it’s the freakin’ EPA, fer cryin’ out loud – the Environmental Protection Agency – not the FBI or the CIA or a Diplomatic service. Why the hell do they even NEED a Cone of Silence? Conifers have cones. Cones make no noise. Conifers and cones are part of the environment. The EPA has “Environment” right there in it’s name. Ergo, the EPA should have silent cones. It’s simple logic, really. I’ll bet Pruitt weighs himself in his office, too. You see, fish have scales… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422.md?page=2)