# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/21 "2017-09-27T20:51:35Z")
Perhaps it’d just be cheaper to implement the Coughing Code. ---
**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, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/22 "2017-09-27T20:59:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Robot Arm** , that line is annoyingly familiar, but I can’t remember where it’s from, and Google isn’t helping. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > It is from **Get Smart** of course. I think it was the Schwartz’s Island episode. (A joke about Gilligan’s Island Creator) [Indeed](https://youtu.be/XBhmpWXUh70). ---
**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, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/23 "2017-09-27T23:37:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > [Indeed](https://youtu.be/XBhmpWXUh70). Man I loved Get Smart. I on the first four seasons didn’t bother with the fifth. ---
**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 28, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/24 "2017-09-28T05:47:02Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Conifers have cones. Cones make no noise. I would guess that your personal experience with evergreens is not extensive. I do stuff periodically out back of the garage, and this time of year, I hear cones hitting the roof rather often. On the tree, or on the ground, the cones tend to be vewy quiet, but the function of the cones is that they do not stay on the tree. Not to mention the damn squirrels, which sometimes tear the cones apart for tasty seeds, in a way that is not silent. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/25 "2017-09-28T06:29:10Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Plus he’s got an 18 man security detail around the clock. Oh, I doubt that Mr. Smart. Would you beleive… about a Boy Scout with rabies? ---
**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 28, 2017, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/26 "2017-09-28T06:39:19Z")
\*Critics say Mr. Pruitt has gone to unusual lengths to operate in secrecy at the E.P.A., where employees report he is often accompanied by armed guards even inside the agency _[**New York Times**](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/climate/pruitt-epa.html?mabReward=ART_TS2&recid=c668349d-410b-4b82-602a-39255b57c6fb&recp=1)_ Pruitt, for his part, has essentially beefed up the agency’s personal security detail that served past administrators. The detail now includes about 18 people to cover round-the-clock needs and his frequent travel schedule.\* [**The Daily Caller**](http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/26/epa-spent-25k-on-a-secure-phone-booth-for-scott-pruitt-to-prevent-eavesdropping/) I believe the whole ethos is an elaborate _melange_ of performance art, focus-shifting and high comedy by Donald Trump. By hiring ninnies like Sessions, Pruitt, Pence and the rest and directing them to acting all dementedlike, he avoids public scrutiny, as befits a shy man. His clowns tumble and the ring-master counts the receipts for Trump Inc… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/27 "2017-09-28T09:12:09Z")
Eh. They just installed a bunch (like 100+) of [these office privacy booths](https://www.frameryacoustics.com/en/models/framery-q/) at our office. They’re nice; imported from Finland. They also cost ~$18k/each for a baseline model. Probably pushing $25k with furniture, phones, etc. Good office furniture ain’t cheap. I watched a lot of Get Smart on Nick at Nite back in the day. ---
**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 28, 2017, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/28 "2017-09-28T09:22:18Z")
So… they get rid of a lot of little private offices, make big open-plan offices, then fill those open-plan offices with dinky little private offices ? Truly, this is a World of Wonders. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/29 "2017-09-28T09:44:09Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > So… they get rid of a lot of little private offices, make big open-plan offices, then fill those open-plan offices with dinky little private offices ? You have grasped it exactly. Except that there aren’t enough of the little private offices. The vaunted “collaboration” which was to have ensued is damaged slightly when everyone either books a meeting room, grabs a pod, or just works form home whenever they want to get actual work done. ---
**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 28, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/30 "2017-09-28T13:01:23Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I would guess that your personal experience with evergreens is not extensive. I do stuff periodically out back of the garage, and this time of year, I hear cones hitting the roof rather often. On the tree, or on the ground, the cones tend to be vewy quiet, but the function of the cones is that they do not stay on the tree. Not to mention the damn squirrels, which sometimes tear the cones apart for tasty seeds, in a way that is not silent. In your example it’s the roof you are hearing, not the cone. Cones are always silent, but the things they come in contact with may not be. It’s a rookie mistake, and as such is understandable, but a mistake nonetheless. 😃 Now hand me my shoe, I have to make a call. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/31 "2017-09-28T13:27:46Z")
One of the morning talk shows did a blurb on this yesterday, I think, and they showed a clip of on of the the Cone of Silence scenes from _Get Smart_. Being of that certain age, it was the first thing I thought of when I heard about this. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/32 "2017-09-28T17:01:12Z")
Reported for link fixing. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/33 "2017-09-28T17:15:05Z")
Can we take a step back from this and settle down? This sounds like a secure comm room like the thousands of which exist all over the government. They have to be built to certain requirements, and not being able to hear a conversation outside the room is an obvious one. You can’t make classified calls outside of such a room. Why does the EPA chief need to make classified calls? I don’t know, I can’t think of a reason offhand but I don’t know the sprawl that is the EPA. Maybe they’re being consulted on secure DoD facilities. Also, a lot of non-classified work areas end up getting a secure comm room put it if there are frequent visits from DVs who might need to conduct official business while they’re there. It doesn’t seem ridiculous that people visiting the head of the EPA might need to make a classified call now and again. Lastly, nitpicking the government over a $25,000 expense was obnoxious when Fox News was doing it, why do we need to respond in kind? A high ranking government executive spending $25k for a secure comm room seems, at first blush, like normal government business. ---
**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 28, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/34 "2017-09-28T18:06:40Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Why does the EPA chief need to make classified calls? I don’t know, I can’t think of a reason offhand but I don’t know the sprawl that is the EPA. Maybe they’re being consulted on secure DoD facilities. Also, a lot of non-classified work areas end up getting a secure comm room put it if there are frequent visits from DVs who might need to conduct official business while they’re there. It doesn’t seem ridiculous that people visiting the head of the EPA might need to make a classified call now and again. If that is in fact the case, why do they need it **now**? If the EPA is engaged in classified activity, you would think that they **had been since 1972**. There appears to be more under this story than what we are hearing. > [@](#): > > Lastly, nitpicking the government over a $25,000 expense was obnoxious when Fox News was doing it, why do we need to respond in kind? A high ranking government executive spending $25k for a secure comm room seems, at first blush, like normal government business. That is like a “_look how stupid you were being you nitpicking assholes_” kind of deal. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/35 "2017-09-28T18:21:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If that is in fact the case, why do they need it **now**? If the EPA is engaged in classified activity, you would think that they **had been since 1972**. There appears to be more under this story than what we are hearing. I don’t know. I don’t know how things are going in the EPA, but the DoD is building a lot more of these types of things because they’re taking information security a lot more seriously lately. The quote in the OP mentions that there’s already a room like this on another floor in the building. Maybe it’s always busy. Maybe it’s old and need to be renovated. Maybe there was an internal organizational change that prompted some remodeling and now it’s harder to get to that room. Maybe every single EPA administrator for the last 20 years really, really wanted a secure comm room in their office but didn’t think it was worth the construction dust. When Obama’s last EPA chief comes out and says this is a clear sign of something shady, then maybe I’ll care. But at the moment there’s a lot of conjecture over something that seems relatively normal in 2017 government operations. > [@eschereal](#): > > That is like a “_look how stupid you were being you nitpicking assholes_” kind of deal. Yes, I think we all remember Michelle Obama graciously saying, “When they go low, we patiently wait 8 years so we can also go low.” ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422/36 "2017-09-28T18:40:18Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Yes, I think we all remember Michelle Obama graciously saying, “When they go low, we patiently wait 8 years so we can also go low.” Very few people are as classy as the Obama’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lower-the-cone-of-silence/797422.md?page=1)