Chapter 43

Troy changed over to a G5 at Morton. He was off for several weeks’ vacation at East Water Cay. Troy and his wife and his adult son with several children were staying in one of the big cottages. Troy has not taken a vacation in over two years it was time for him to have a break.

Troy’s assistant Carl Crawford was filling in. Carl was going to get his feet wet in a big way while in a temporary position.

‘‘Carl, send an e-mail to the EPA administrator that I want an extremely detailed report on the SWAT team incident at the John Moses farm on my desk Monday morning at 0800,’’ I said.

‘‘Then I want a form drawn up and sent to the administrators of the following agencies; EPA, Social Security, Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior, the Internal Revenue Service, the Energy Department, the Department of Education, the Treasury Department and the ATF,’’ I said.

‘‘Those agencies are to supply a list of all employees who have been issued any weapon or tactical gear. That list is to include the name and ID number of the employee, the make of the weapon, its model number and its serial number,’’ I said.

‘‘I wanted the physical location where the weapon is stored and the name and ID number of the official authorizing the issuance of that weapon or equipment to that individual. Also collect where the ammunition is stored and the number of rounds in each agency’s possession,” I said.

‘‘I want that information sent to you by 0900 Monday. Also require a receipt that the email was opened and stress that there will be consequences for failure to comply with the order,’’ I said.

‘‘Yes Ma-am, I will take care of it within the hour, you will have a copy to approve before I send it,’’ he said.

I walked the tunnel back to the house leaving Carl to his assignment. The house was coming alive. I turned on ZNN to see if they were running anything different now. It was the same film clip but different politicians and talking heads venting their imagined rage at my administration for out of control agencies and anyone else they could vent at - anything to get free TV time.

I decided to make one more call as a double precaution. I called Matt Hovator, the director of the General Accounting Office. I had a devil of a time coming up with a private phone number for him. But I finally came up with a couple with some help from one of Carl’s aids. Mat had been in multiple meetings that I had in the White House.

“Matt, this is BJ, President Jones, I need some information from the GAO and I need it first thing Monday morning. If no one is working in the GAO over the weekend, call whoever you need in. I want a list of all the agencies with the exception of the Department of Defense, FBI, CIA, and US Marshal’s service that bought weapons, ammo and tactical gear in the last five years.’’ ‘‘If possible, I also want information on the weapons, make model and serial numbers, where it was shipped, who ordered it. You know, all the particulars,’’ I said.

‘‘Yes, this is in response to the Kentucky mess. I need this by 1000 Monday morning to formulate new policies and procedures,’’ I said.

In reality, it was to double check if the agencies were going to be truthful. Some of them I had doubts about.

There were demands that I make a statement and take immediate action - that was not going to happen this weekend. They would be talking a different tune Tuesday afternoon after I dropped a bomb on government agencies. It would take all day Monday for all the pieces to come together.

I would have Carl deliver a note to the White House spokesperson to deliver a message to the news crew following me, that there would be a news conference Tuesday at 1000 to update the findings on the Kentucky fiasco.

The number of Congressional hearings and investigations was quickly growing. Some were truly concerned and then there were those that wanted the media spotlight as long as they could milk it. Same old politics.

JJ and RJ wanted to go back to Fort Smith to look for more brass shell casings. So did I for - different reasons - but that was going to wait until after lunch.

This morning I was going to spend time with Takeo and Sara and then Vicky and Marcy. They were both just a month and a half from delivering. I wasn’t spending nearly as much time with them as I should have been.

That was going to change. I was coming home every weekend for the next six weeks to spend time with them and the newborns when they arrived. I was going to get them to spend more time with me at the White House.

The kids were playing on the living room floor. It gave us time to look at the tax change. It took thirty minutes for the tax changes to be explained to me and to sign at all the appropriate places.

After that JJ, RJ and I went to Fort Smith with a detachment of my security. Even though it was Saturday, there was training going on - a makeup day for a security team headed to Africa on Monday. Weather had delayed their arrival.

The boys were excited to be able to stand back and watch a hostage rescue. The Secret Service was not as happy, afraid that someone might have a live round instead of blanks.

After the rescue was over, the men went over to Training Room #2 to break down the segments of the rescue. Breaking all the rules, I and my group followed.

This was the second year for this group of JBG security to go through the hostage training. This was the more advanced module that the state department wanted for security teams going to that part of Africa.

I asked the men what they thought of the new updated training? Then I asked the trainers how the group did with this year’s module. After a discussion I recommended that if they had any suggestions, comments or any ideas for improvement, to get them to Vicky or Andy. I wished them good luck on their travel back to Africa.

Then I carried the boys out to the training area the men had just finished up at. There were plenty of shell casings for them to pick up if they wanted. The blanks for this training were different than the casings for the live firing range.

It was almost three when we walked into the house. Carl was waiting with a handful of notes for me to look at and make a decision on. He had sent me the form he was working on in an email that I approved to be sent to the administrators and directors earlier this morning.