Presidential hypothetical

[Loach]

You are now the president. Not the current one or the next one. It’s you and somehow everyone wrote you in on the ballot. The inauguration is over and you are now in power. We will just assume as president you will do all great things.

This is not about that. You now have access to all the secrets of the United States Government and the secrets of other countries that the U.S. has been able to find out. What is the first thing you ask about? It’s aliens right? It’s got to be aliens. Or is it the JFK assassination? Or do you think there is nothing that big that is being kept from us?

Inspired by the current UFO thread in FQ.

[Whack-a-Mole]

IIRC Jimmy Carter wanted full disclosure on aliens after he became president. Supposedly (and again, IIRC), he was given information and never released any of it.

Interestingly, Carter claimed to have seen a UFO in the 60s.

[dolphinboy]

I would ask “What are the greatest and most likely threats to the US population, whether biological, nuclear, or whatever, where would they come from, and what are we doing to ensure the public is safe and secure from those threats for at least the immediate future?” For example, if there is even a remote possibility that North Korea or Iran has or is currently developing a nuclear or biological weapon, I’d want to know about it.

[thorny_locust]

I would ask first ‘What are the three things that are not public knowledge that you think it’s most urgent for me to know?’

And I would listen to those, paying close attention.

And then I would say, ‘Now tell me three things that you didn’t think were important enough to tell me about.’

[Munch]

@dolphinboy

What are the greatest and most likely threats to the US population, whether biological, nuclear, or whatever, where would they come from, and what are we doing to ensure the public is safe and secure from those threats for at least the immediate future?

The President-elect is included in national security briefings for quite some time before inauguration - I’d think this would all be included in that.

I’d go with aliens as well.

[Velocity]

I’d say, “All right now, tell me the juiciest military tech we’ve been inventing. All the Area 51 stuff.”

[RollOutTheBarrel]

@Loach

It’s aliens right?

Yeah, it’s aliens. I often joke that the reason I joined the Air Force was because I hoped I would learn the truth about aliens.

[Loach]

@thorny_locust

I would ask first ‘What are the three things that are not public knowledge that you think it’s most urgent for me to know?’

And I would listen to those, paying close attention.

And then I would say, ‘Now tell me three things that you didn’t think were important enough to tell me about.’

Sure, but who are you asking? Is there a presidential keeper of secrets? You have to get past the layers of political appointees to find someone who knows what is what. Even then there is no way of knowing if they have the need to know what you would want to know. The president as the ultimate approving authority on classification can be read in on anything but you would have to know what to ask about.

[Czarcasm]

Definitely this. BTW, is your political party the majority in The House and/or The Senate?

[Beckdawrek]

If there are high level “secret keepers”, there has to have been more than one. There are no real secrets.
That stuff never stays secret.

Loose lips, and all.

I’d ask who cuts my paycheck and who covers the grocery bill.

[Czarcasm]

What have we got, weapon-wise, and where have we got it?

[PhillyGuy]

@thorny_locust

And then I would say, ‘Now tell me three things that you didn’t think were important enough to tell me about.’

That’s a good follow-up, but I also want to know, regarding the first three, what the best case is that the U.S. intelligence consensus is mistaken.

[Loach]

@Beckdawrek

I’d ask who cuts my paycheck and who covers the grocery bill.

These aren’t secrets. The president gets paid like any other federal employee. The president has to pay for their own groceries.

[Hari_Seldon]

I just don’t believe that any conspiracy theory known to more than one person can ever be kept secret. Sure, tell me about aliens, but I already know that’s a bunch of bull. And the CIA assassinated JFK? It would have come out long since.

[DrDeth]

@dolphinboy

I would ask “What are the greatest and most likely threats to the US population, whether biological, nuclear, or whatever, where would they come from, and what are we doing to ensure the public is safe and secure from those threats for at least the immediate future?”

Good answer, good answer!

I know there are no alien UFOs.

That Oswald was the sole assassin (did he have support, maybe?)

@Hari_Seldon

I just don’t believe that any conspiracy theory known to more than one person can ever be kept secret.

“Two can keep a secret, if one is dead” (Mark Twain, but maybe not the first)

Sure, maybe more than two. But look at the Moon landing- who would have to be “in” on it?- Most of NASA, operators in places like Australia, and yes, the USSR.

[Chronos]

I wouldn’t bother to ask about aliens, because even if anyone on Earth did know anything about aliens, it’d be highly unlikely that it’d be anyone within the government’s classification system. Most likely, it’d be scientists of some sort or another, and we’re absolutely lousy at keeping secrets.

[nearwildheaven]

Carter’s “UFO” turned out to be a missile test at a base a state or two away. It happened in 1969.