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I spent Thursday at The White House

robr

robr

Legendary Member
Joined
31 July 2001
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Location
Boston, MA
I working on writing up my adventures this past week, but a quick share with some of you here that I think will really appreciate it. I was invited to the White House along with about 20 others from around the country to participate in sessions with some really amazing people, including Megan Smith, the US CTO (she was awesome... enthusiastic and extremely down to earth), the White House press secretary (funny and personable) and a couple of President Obama's senior policy advisers. I wandered the halls of the Executive offices adjacent to the White House without escort and peeked into the VP's outer office while trying to find the men's room (it was a very tight area with a couple of desks, several printers and lots of stacks of paper). I even asked the press secretary if he enjoys House of Cards (he does, but finds it a bit dark. He prefers West Wing). I appear at 1:59 in this week's White House weekly video update. I am just so excited and humbled about having been able to participate in this incredible opportunity and I am still feeling a bit giddy from the whole experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSZm1N-N3Po

I was chuckling a bit when reading the ebola thread as almost every person I met with mentioned our meeting was their favorite of the week because they were exhausted from two weeks of solid ebola related meetings.

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One of the attendees was the CMO for the Haas F1 racing team. He was almost as much fun to chat with. (Seeing Hass' name above reminded me of that :))
 
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....neat...so what did you guys and gals discuss?..or do they want you to fix the Obama-care website....:wink:
 
We were pretty much allowed to discuss anything we liked, from education to ebola to military support being sent to west africa, to monsanto to open source software..... but a lot of what the white house was looking for was feedback on their petition website at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

We made a lot of suggestions on improvements.... like highlighting some of the more successful petitions, obscuring the ridiculous ones (like the petition for the US Govt to build a Death Star or deport Justin Beiber) as those ruin the brand image. They were quick to point out that even the ridiculous ones allow them to educate people on things like our space program in the case of the death star. For example you can sign up to receive a text when the space station is passing overhead and when they shared this with the people that signed the death star petition, they had 50,000 new sign ups that day. We suggested more status updates as to what the status is of the petition (they promise to respond to all petitions that receive 100,000 votes but after you hit 100,000 there can be silence for a very long while... let us know what's going on!). Also we suggested some additional info be collected so the signers can be broken down by districts and that info shared with their reps.

Anyway I intend to do a thorough blog with pics and will share that when I finish, but it was a pretty mind blowing experience. I still can't believe I was allowed to wander around the executive building (this is where the majority of the white house staff works as the white house itself only holds 150 staff, this building holds the remainder of the 4000 staff) without escort, no secret service anywhere in sight... I'm passing doors that say 'National Security Adviser to the VP' and Biden's office itself. In the attached pic I'm standing at the exit of the EEOB (eisenhower exec office bldg) where it overlooks the west wing (which we were not allowed to go near on the public white house tour, plus Obama was in the building probably a couple hundred feet from where I'm standing).

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very cool I would have liked to meet Reagan when he was alive best president we ever had next to JFK
 
wow ..what kind of background checks did they do on you all to feel comfortable enough to let you wander?
 
docjohn said:
wow ..what kind of background checks did they do on you all to feel comfortable enough to let you wander?
Click to expand...

I don't even want to think about that :). All they asked for was my name, address, email address and SSN (several days in advance of my visit). It took me MUCH longer to get through IAD security than White House security. There were two ID check points, a 'puffer' thing that blows air at you and the XRAY conveyor belt. No bags allowed into the WH and no photos, but bags and photos were OK in the EEOB building.
 
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With all the news about recent security lapses, I'm surprised you were allowed to wander around.

But then again, nothing surprises me anymore.
 
I was surprised also, but it seems once you clear the outer perimeter and go through all the security that involves, they trust you to behave, at least in the EEOB. The WH was an entirely different story. No wandering allowed there at all.
 
Why you? What did they hope to accomplish in this get together?
 
Why not me? Above, I went into a little about what the Office of Digital Strategy was looking for. I really don't know why I was chosen specifically, I was not able to get a clear answer on that, probably because the people that did the choosing were not present. I'm not sure how they were aware of me or my background or if that even mattered. There were many others that had no technical background at all, it was a good mix of backgrounds (along with one total kook). I do know they looked at people that had some participation with the petition website I mentioned above and that's where the initial pool of people came from, but for all I know, it was completely random.
 
What did they hope to accomplish in this get together?
 
he is leaving out details secret clearance stuff

or if he told you he would have to kill you

- - - Updated - - -

we were there just because, and well it was fun, and the other people were nice LOL
 
This is so cool. One of our old time members makes it into the INSIDE. Awesome Rob. Really awesome. What do your kids think? Are you scheduled for a classroom appearance yet?
 
My kids don't really grasp the significance of it yet. I'm not sure they even mentioned it to their teachers. At their ages (8 and 9), I'm finding they haven't had enough life experience to really understand just how special some experiences are. It's a bit frustrating to me sometimes, but I also understand they need more experience to be able to frame things properly. I think someday it will be a much cooler story for them than it is right now. My son thinks it's way cooler that I got to drive Steveny's Ferrari :)
 
passline said:
They probably would let you make it all the way to the Green Room before questioning.
Click to expand...

I wasn't escorted in the WH but there there was no wandering. Secret service in every room with lots of areas roped off and a very clear path to follow. I entered at the 15th Street and Alexander Hamilton Place checkpoint. Passed through a total of 3 security checkpoints then came in via the east wing, thru the east garden room and peeked into the china room. Just past that was an area with a series of panel screens that you couldn't see beyond with USSS guys standing in front. I went up the stairs just in front of those, through the east room (much smaller than it looks on TV), went through the green room, blue room and red room into the state dining room (also smaller than I expected), then out into the entrance hall and exited through the north portico. Once outside I was allowed to take pics. I exited the grounds at that point (through the north gate right in front where all the protesters usually hang out) as my meeting wasn't for a couple of hours, grabbed some lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill, then headed back to west side of the grounds and entered the EEO Building.

My advance itinerary said lunch would be served at the WH. Didn't happen, was never mentioned, so that was a little disappointing, but still.......... an amazing day. One of the things which is pretty neat is the USSS guys in each room were extremely knowledgeable about the history of the room and the items in it and were happy to chat and answer questions about the room or even the rest of the residence. Everything I saw was very formal and historic, but the rooms are only used for formal meetings. One USSS guy explained the living space of POTUS and family is informal and comfortable, unlike the 200 year old chairs and couches in the rooms I was allowed to see.

- - - Updated - - -

Indian Treaty room and one of the video production rooms (located in the EEO Bldg)
Indian Treaty Room - 1.jpg
WH Videographer.jpg
 
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