From the Editor Inside the Beltway
I just returned from Washington, D.C. Nothing fascinating about that, I know, but this trip was a bit different than most. Among other things, I spent some time with senators and then visited one of the most high-security places in the nation: CIA headquarters.
And it was all in-plant business.
First, I attended the swearing-in ceremony of Bruce R. James as the 24th United States Public Printer. Hundreds of guests thronged the Senate Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building, the very room where the Army-McCarthy and Watergate hearings took place. It was an elegant setting in which to welcome James to his lofty position as head of the Government Printing Office, the country's largest in-plant.
Representatives from both the House and Senate joined the crowd of people surrounding the the tall, silver-haired James as he shook hands and accepted their congratulations.
James was sworn in by Anthony M. Kennedy, associate justice of the Supreme Court, after which several members of congress took to the podium to praise him.
I was honored to be one of the first to applaud James as he accepted his new position. When I shook his hand later, he appeared a bit weary after greeting hundreds of well wishers, but his good nature never faltered, and he offered me—and each person he spoke with—his full attention. Based on the opinions of those who know him, Bruce James seems to have both the entrepreneurial spirit and people skills necessary to make a strong and successful Public Printer.
I filled out my trip to Washington with a couple of in-plant visits. At the Washington Hospital Center, Pete Twentey showed me his soon-to-be-relocated operation. His shop is a great example of how an in-plant can build gradually from a black-and-white forms-printing operation to a printer of full-color marketing material.
By far the most interesting visit of my trip, though, was to the Central Intelligence Agency's in-plant. Having passed an earlier background check, I was allowed past security and joined by Deputy Chief Doug Krauss for a tour of the 100-person Imaging & Publishing Support operation.
Because the in-plant prints documents detailing national security issues, employees here are screened rigorously, and polygraph tests are common. On some jobs, only a select few employees are even allowed near the presses.
We'll write more about this in-plant in a future issue—including the security measures taken to produce the President's Daily Brief. Until then, you'll have to take my word that when it comes to in-plant security, CIA Imaging & Publishing Support outranks them all.
- Places:
- Washington, D.C.