Mission Compromised by Oliver North Page A

of black-and-white marble on five floors, all connected by eight ornamental staircases. Above each staircase are stained-glass skylights. During World War II, they also dug a bomb shelter beneath the White House and a tunnel in the basement that runs all the way from 15th Street to 17th Street, connecting this building, the White House, and the Treasury. Crazy, isn't it?” Newman realized by now that these kinds of questions didn't require an answer.
    When the elevator door opened on the third floor, the two men exited. Harrod pointed them down the empty corridor toward the southeast corner of the building, saying, “The room right next to your office—room 308—used to be the State Department Library. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were stored there before they were transferred to the National Archives.”
    The two men stopped in front of a heavy, dark-stained oak door that looked identical to all others in the hallway, except this one had the standard, government-issue combination lock mounted at eye level on the door and anelectronic keypad on the wall beside the doorjamb. On a plate above the keypad was the number 304–306.
    Harrod terminated his historical treatise, tucked the classified document he'd carried from the Situation Room under his arm, and removed what looked like a credit card from his shirt pocket. Reading from the combination printed on the red plastic card, he spun the black combination knob first to the left, then to the right, and finally back to the left again. Then, after consulting the card in his hand one last time, he rotated the small, silver-colored, raised, arrow in the center of the knob with his thumb and forefinger. There was a satisfying click. Harrod then turned the outer black knob a quarter-turn to the right and was rewarded by the sound of a heavy mechanical bolt sliding open on the other side of the door. “Well, that's the first step,” saidthe National Security Advisor, obviously pleased with his prowess as a lock-pick.
    Next, Harrod removed a sealed envelope from the breast pocket of his rumpled suit coat and, ripping it open, extracted another plastic card—this time a green one. He proceeded to press the numbers on the keypad next to the door slowly and deliberately, according to the sequence on the card. Once again there was the sound of a bolt moving and a heavy thunk as it unlocked.
    â€œWell, Newman, I'm told that the last sequence is done from inside the door. It's a security system with an electronic keypad and a retina scanner to verify the person who is disarming the security system. If you do that part wrong, we'll probably have a whole lot of company in very short order.
    â€œAccording to these instructions, the keypad is to your left as you enter the door and the retina scanner is directly above it. As soon as you open this door, you have fifteen seconds to enter the access code for the system before the alarm goes off. Here's the code.”
    Harrod handed Newman yet another plastic card—this one was yellow. On the card were the numbers 30671489. “Any questions?”
    â€œOh yes, Dr. Harrod, I have a whole lot of questions. The first of which is, what's on the other side of this door? Second, why am I going in but you're staying out here?”
    Harrod's loud chuckle echoed off the black-and-white marble floor of the long, ornate, and empty corridor. “What's on the other side of this door? Your office , Mr. Newman. Why am I staying out here? Because, according to these very precise instructions, in order to disarm this ridiculously complicated security system, the door has to be closed behind you, and only one person can be inside at that point. Apparently your very paranoid predecessor, who designed thissystem, was worried that some spy could be holding a gun to the head of a person with the combination, and he wanted to guard against that.”
    â€œOh,” said Newman. It didn't sound