No longer “top secret”

Dear Editor:

Working in the White House is an extreme honor, one that few Americans will ever have. But it doesn’t give us the right to throw it in the faces of others, nor use it as justification for avoiding doing something that everyone else is asked to do.

Like Mr. DuPont, I, too, had a top secret clearance and worked in the White House — for longer than he did and for two different presidents. I’d venture a guess that I had access to as much, if not more, of it than he did. But, the reality is that once you turn your badge into the Secret Service and leave, it’s all over and so is the top secret clearance because they are granted for a specific job. And, they certainly have no relevancy to one’s life here in Morgan County.

The reality is that once you leave the White House, all you are left with are some great memories and some words that look nice on a resume.

Maybe Mr. DuPont has lived in these hills too long and hasn’t heard that the world has changed dramatically, particularly since 2001. There are a lot of “crazies” everywhere, even in our beautiful “West Virginia Hills.”
I, for one, will gladly spend the few paltry seconds it takes to go through the metal detector at the courthouse, if it means that it might one day prevent some angry person from walking into the courtroom, for example, and opening fire on innocent people.

I don’t know Mr. DuPont, but I’d love to be at the airport when security tells him to remove his shoes!

Judi Hahn
Berkeley Springs