how much do our public leaders know?

If secret, black projects exist within the gov't. how much to the elected leaders know about them. Are new administrations/leaders informed about the more secret parts of the gov't?

As much as they need to know. It really comes down to Plausible Deniability. I think elected leaders dont really know that much at all they are just figure heads for they public.

Ya, also if the elected official loses office, the government does not want those ppl to be able to expose the military secrets, so the elected officials are told next to nothing.

What if they asked? President XXX, demands access to Area 51 or another "secret" facility. Would they say no?

If the President of the Untied States wanted to know what was going on in Area 51 or what not, all he needs to do is wave the finger, and he is allowed access. After all, he is the president, and if that doesn't work, we do have a lotta military personal at his disposal. So if he really wanted to find out he could.

Originally posted by Chieftian Chaos
If the President of the Untied States wanted to know what was going on in Area 51 or what not, all he needs to do is wave the finger, and he is allowed access. After all, he is the president

Historically speaking, that doesn't appear to be the case at all.

and if that doesn't work, we do have a lotta military personal at his disposal. So if he really wanted to find out he could.

That's not how it works.
plausible deniability plays a large part.

Even if the President of the US demanded to be given access to Area 51, the info he would have access TO would be VERY limited. Again, Plausible Deniability plays a large part in what the president is allowed to access

If the President of the Untied States wanted to know what was going on in Area 51 or what not, all he needs to do is wave the finger, and he is allowed access. After all, he is the president, and if that doesn't work, we do have a lotta military personal at his disposal. So if he really wanted to find out he could.

Technically not. The military is controlled by the Pentagon, who merely answers to the President. If the pentagon does not want to answer a question from the president, they either say it is too classified, or give an abridged answer (give enough info to satisify the president, but not all the info available). The President has less access than what you think to top secret material

[edit on 8-8-2004 by Vhaerun]

Technically not. The military is controlled by the Pentagon, who merely answers to the President. If the pentagon does not want to answer a question from the president, they either say it is too classified, or give an abridged answer (give enough info to satisify the president, but not all the info available). The President has less access than what you think to top secret material

[edit on 8-8-2004 by Vhaerun]

So in theory, the President really is not in charge then.

Certain public leaders (doesn't have to be the President) know more than we know (maybe not everything,but they do know more), and that's all I know.

Originally posted by Chieftian Chaos


So in theory, the President really is not in charge then.

Yes and no

Yes: the president is there as a figureheadm and for making the huge decisions (like War and such)

No: The president has next to no access to the secret government projects and Bases (like Dulce). He is told that the projects are active, or that the bases do exist, but is not given any info about what occurs there. Basically, the president's knowledge abt these things is on a Need-To-Know basis, and most of these projects don't get released to ANYONE.

Originally posted by adcadcadc

If secret, black projects exist within the gov't. how much to the elected leaders know about them. Are new administrations/leaders informed about the more secret parts of the gov't?

I doubt public officals know about. They don't need to know. It is on a need to know basis which is why nobody says anything to the public.

The only people that would know about this stuff is people deep in the CIA, NSA and the Airforce.

My dad had worked on secret stuff back when he was in the military. There are things that said he can't talk about. He did mention to me once about something to do with catching strange objects on radar. But he stopped at that and changed the subject.

Originally posted by Chieftian Chaos
If the President of the Untied States wanted to know what was going on in Area 51 or what not, all he needs to do is wave the finger, and he is allowed access. After all, he is the president, and if that doesn't work, we do have a lotta military personal at his disposal. So if he really wanted to find out he could.

I would think it would be the first thing they asked! Especially if they had been Congressman or Senators before hand and had some form of access to top secret materials.

It seems scary to me that a president wouldn't be informed of all aspects of technology and military development projects. If they are specifically kept in the dark due to plausible deniability then we truly don't elect the leaders we have.

Not to be rude, but the pure BS that some people here are posting is getting to me. We tend to centralize our focus on the lake to much in our discussions. You would be surprised at the amount of tours that go on at the lake...and no not public tours.

The president has full knowledge of the ops that go on at the lake and various other facilities. He just doesn't need or want the details. That briefing would last months. Way too much info. Now there will always be side projects that people in our government and the Military Industrial Complex are working on that may never be known outside of that.

A good place to look at is DARPA. Where the majority of black programs are borne.

posted on 19-8-2004 at 18:03 Post Number: 740390 (post id: 761084) Originally posted by ignorance is a plenty
A good place to look at is DARPA. Where the majority of black programs are borne.

That is borderline trolling in my book. Sort of like quoteing your self now isn't it. I hope you don't start typing in the third person... also it's "BORN".

Originally posted by Weller
Congressman or Senators

Getting warmer.
Try the group formerly known as Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC), if you want to know "how much the elected leaders know".

Of course there are others...

borne
colour
cheque
aluminium

some words have different spellings.

As for the deja vu......the topics were almost like deja vu.