How Presidents Have Used Teleprompters (1963 to present)

 

How Presidents Have Used Teleprompters
Components of a Presidential a Podium and Teleprompter
Type Of Activity	Presidential Speeches
Location
Location	Washington DC and various Locations
Date of Activity	1963 to Present
Coordinates	38°53′52″N 77°02′11″W

The Presidency of any country is aptly described as the most demanding job in the world. Zero in on the United States presidency, and you can easily multiply the difficulty a thousand times. Besides the many issues, state visits, rubbing elbows with influential people, and whatnot, state presidents also deliver speeches every now and then. They may do so in front of the media, in a live audience on a worldwide broadcast, or a combination of both.

It’s a part of a President’s job to present dozens of speeches, but to be honest, it’s the least of his worries. Why? It’s because he has access to the best equipment, such as a teleprompter, specifically a presidential teleprompter operated by the professionals of the White House Communications Agency.

WHCA has long been for responsible all audio and video at Trip sites including the presidential podium and teleprompter.

Brief History of Teleprompter Use by U.S. Presidents

Four years after the invention of the teleprompter in 1948, General Dwight Eisenhower was the first to use it in a campaign speech in September 1952, The 1952 Republican National Convention was the first political convention broadcast live by television. In addition to being the first live telecast, the GOP convention was the debut event for the new device still used by politicians today, the “TelePrompTer”. As the keynote speaker for the convention, former president Hebert Hoover used the TelePrompTer, however, without much success.

The teleprompter quickly became a fixture of political campaigning and speechmaking, being utilized for the first time in 1954 by President Dwight Eisenhower for a State of the Union address.

President Johnson was the first President  to require a teleprompter at all of his speeches, at this point in time WHCA was building and setting up LBJ’s bulletproof Podium at all speech sites, recording all of his speeches, providing the PA system and an audio feed to all of the networks.

General Jack Albright, WHCA CO, recalls his early days with LBJ “As time went on, he wanted more things. He wanted to be able to read his speech while looking at the audience, and so we turned to the philosophy of the teleprompter. We signed a contract with a New York company, and they provided us with a great number of teleprompters.  Now, these were heavy, very heavy things to haul  around.

There were generally three very large boxes that looked like podiums and they sat out in front of him and through a piece of glass it reflected the speech, which was being scrolled on a tape or in fact, teletype paper below that. So, he read this as though he was reading it as a speech from a paper.

At this time, the presidential teleprompter was massive and very obvious to individuals in the audience. The early teleprompters used a VERY LARGE typewriter that would put the text on a half inch gummed tape that was then pasted onto a roll of teletype yellow paper. It was very hard to cut and paste to make edits, and LBJ didn’t like handwritten comments in margins.

"The print was about a half inch high, so, the President had little trouble reading it. He could read it either directly ahead of him or to either side of something like a forty-five-degree angle from that. That's the first innovation WHCA put in.” according to BG Albright. 

A WHCA operator typing a speech

LBJ using an early model teleprompter with a old style WHCA podium

The WHCA carpenter shop built all of LBJ,s  bulletproof podiums. They were huge and  they were heavier than hell. The teleprompter operator would actually sit inside the podium and manually operate the scroll. On more than one occasion the teleprompter and the President would get out of sync During one LBJ rehearsal it got out of sync. LBJ stepped back, looked down and said, 'Son, are you trying to GD Fu$* me up?' Now this was all controlled, speed-wise and everything else, by the teleprompter operator judging the President's rate of speech, and always keeping where the President could see a couple of lines, three lines at the most.

The teleprompter did not use video monitors. The two devices, adjacent to the lectern, were two synchronized tractor drives that were slaved to the master controller that the WHCA AV personnel operated. The text was printed on paper scrolls that had to be “absolutely synchronized” with the master scroll at the operator position.

I believe President Nixon was the last to use the “motorized/slave” prompter. President Ford was introduced to the new video system along with the “new blue lectern”. The previous lectern was black steel, bolted to a wooden frame. 

That issue was somehow lessened in the mid-60s by coming up with the side-by-side teleprompter setup that we know today– reflecting printed text onto angled pieces of thin glass on either side of the podium. It was a game-changer since the President could glance from side to side and still see the script. He may do so while maintaining eye contact with the audience.

President Richard Nixon would not use a teleprompter when speaking in public. He rehearsed his remarks and annotated a hard copy of the speech. He refused to use a teleprompter, no matter how long the speech was. Although he would generally rehearse his speeches using the teleprompter

During one of these rehearsals in the oval office, President  Nixon all of a sudden said 'the prompters off. The WHCA operator replied, 'No sir, its right.' Nixon turned and glared straight at him, 'Son, the GD prompter is off." Dead silence. The operator jumped up, looked at the scroll and said, 'Yes sir, ill fix it.'. WHCA never heard another word about it. Everyone involved was concerned that they would all be shipped to Vietnam that night for questioning the President. Nixon normally used typewritten text with handwritten notes and usually left them on the podium.

In April of 1971 the First Marine Division returned from Vietnam and was to be greeted by President Nixon.  The event was scheduled to take place at Camp Pendleton, which was only 10 min from the Western White House. The CCT was told to break out the recording equipment to rehearse the welcome home ceremonies.  So here we were all radio and switchboard guys setting up on the Parade Field (which nobody was allowed to set foot on when they were not in a parade).  Anyway, Gen Redmond, Major Freed, and I do not remember all of the WHCA officers were out there, but we set up the PA and microphones where we thought they needed to be as the Troop Commander shouted commands. The problem was that when he was in front of the division no one could hear him, and we could not put a mike stand there! 

Gen Redmond came over to me and asked if we could run a mike cable out on the parade field and lay the microphone on the ground.  It took two min. and that solved the problem.  After rehearsal we all took shovels and buried the cable thus inventing the “turf” microphone, the Marines could not believe that we were digging up their parade field and not going to the brig for doing it. I returned to Camp Pendleton the day before the event was to take place to meet with the WHCA recording guys to help them set up the site with a podium without the teleprompter. I  then pointed out where the Troop Commander would be positioned and connected the turf mic.. All went well at the speech the next day at the official Welcome Back ceremonies.

President welcomes home the 1^st Marine Div. returning from Vietnam

The most important speech that President Ford gave was a  rare Sunday afternoon speech to announce his pardon of President Nixon. ... No teleprompter, just note cards. It was perfect for the time. President Ford usually wore contact lenses when he used a teleprompter to avoid the use of his glasses while making speeches.

President Ford pardons Richard Nixon 

Subtle advancements in teleprompter technology have been made over the years. Until the early 1980s, the text was typically printed on paper. Courtney M. Goodin, a Hollywood sound mixer and stagehand, invented Compu=Prompt in 1982, a software-based system that displayed text from a modified Atari 800 PC. It was the beginning of the end for printed papers, as computers began supplanting printed scrolls throughout the business. Computerized systems have various advantages, including the ability to alter and load text at the last second.

1980 Democrat Convention in Madison Square Garden     

During the 1980 Democrat National Convention at Madison Square Garden. President Carter spent a lot of time in the Presidential suite rehearsing before the actual event. Then the time came for President Carters Acceptance speech, the dual glass teleprompter was set up, with two WHCA operators under the stage. There was a big pile of sandbags near where the two operators  were  sitting and when they asked the USSS agent near them what the sandbags were for, he responded,  that there was a hockey goal type opening on the stage behind the President and a chute that led to the sandbags so that if someone were to throw a bomb on the stage, they could just kick it down the chute.

Once the speeches were edited up until the last minutes, they were saved on a current state-of-the-art format of a 5 ¼" or ½" Floppy disk that a Senior Staff person would have in the motorcade and delivery backstage by the Site Trip Officer, more than once, the last minute edits were NOT updated properly and in one case a very old speech came up on the Teleprompter.... "Instant Pucker"! How can you blame the teleprompter operator for scrolling what as given to him, but somehow, it was always the operator’s fault! One such incident involved the STOTU address. The Staff was in an uproar, but President Reagan delivered without "notice" to the public and was corrected with a current copy by the end of the speech.

Ronald Reagan regularly used a teleprompter during all of his speeches. President Reagan, often spoken of as "the great communicator," was noticeably at a loss for words when his teleprompter broke down during  a major speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France .  Reagan's teleprompter cut out three times causing the president to lose his place... Nonetheless, after a short period of time he recovered and continued. The President took everything in stride. He used the teleprompter only, to help him keep his place in the speech.

President Reagan uses the dual glass teleprompter setup

WHCA started doing outdoor prompters during the Regan administration. The beam splitters (reflective glass) was darkened on the side facing the audience to allow the president to read it during bright sunny days.

WHCA first went to a computer driven system during George HW Bush’s administration . That system proved to be too slow because every time you made a change to the script, it had to go thru the entire speech and compare it with the original. Last minute changes just took too long. WHCA then decided to go with some off the shelf items that were already in WHCA's inventory. Two Grid computers tied  together for primary and backup.

President Bush using the  presidential teleprompter at a CSPAN convention

Today’s presidential teleprompter is made up of two mirrors constructed of beam-splitter glass installed on two different stands. Each mirror is oriented at a 45-degree angle. Each has a monitor with text that reflects in the mirror. Only the person speaking can see the text due to an anti-reflective coating on the back of the mirror. Even though there is Voice-recognition software available that will scroll text based on the speaker’s speaking speed. the requirement of an appropriate scrolling pace forces White House to rely on manual scrolling, especially for critical political speeches.

Teleprompters are always available even if the President doesn’t use it

Today, you rarely see a President, or any country leader speak to a live audience without a teleprompter. From the printed scrolls to LCD monitors, automatic scrolling on an Atari PC to voice recognition, the teleprompter truly changed the landscape of political speeches, often for the better. 

As a result, this teleprompter is more commonly used for giving speeches, as it lets the speaker see the audience through the glass. Another advantage of this teleprompter is that multiple monitors may be positioned throughout the arena, allowing the speaker to stare at the entire crowd during their speech, making it appear even more natural.

Just because a teleprompter makes the Presidents life easier, it doesn’t mean he would be good at it without practice or some tricks he could use. In fact, not every United States president presents a speech using a prompter. Some, like George W. Bush, disliked teleprompters and preferred large index cards while President Trump prefers the presidential teleprompter for all of his speeches.

President Trump uses the Teleprompter for every speech

Today’s Presidential teleprompter setup for all speeches

Another difference between camera-mounted and presidential teleprompters is that the latter may be used without a camera. A presidential prompter is a much better setup when presenting to a live audience and where he can scan from side to side and not fix his gaze on a spot. The cameraman can then film the speaker from various angles, preferably when he is not looking at the mirror.

The flawless delivery of a speech begins long before the President steps onto the stage. It starts with meticulous preparation and the setup of the presidential teleprompter and podium. Here's a glimpse of some of what the WHCA A/V teleprompter operator does behind the scenes before a crucial event:

1. Review: WHCA A/V operator typically starts with a thorough review of the President’s speech. The speech is loaded onto the teleprompter's software, where the operator can format it for optimal readability, adjusting font size and scroll speed according to the  speaker's preference.

2. Equipment Check: Ensuring that all equipment is in perfect working order is paramount. This includes not only the presidential teleprompter and its screen but also the control devices and any backup systems in case of technical glitches.

3. Operator Briefing: The teleprompter operator, a crucial part of the team, receives instructions and must become familiar with the  Presidents delivery style and pace. They must be in sync with the President to ensure seamless scrolling of the script.

4. Rehearsals: Depending on the importance of the event, the President might run through the speech using the teleprompter several times to ensure comfort and familiarity with the setup. This rehearsal helps eliminate last-minute surprises or hiccups.

5. Backup Plans: While the teleprompters are always backed up the White House Staff often has printed copies of the speech, just in case of technical difficulties.

B. Positioning and Testing the Teleprompter

The physical placement and calibration of the teleprompter is critical for a successful presentation. Here's a step-by-step breakdown of how it's done:

1. Stage Placement: The teleprompter is positioned directly in front of the podium, at eye level, to ensure that the text is easily readable without the need for the President to look down or significantly off axis. This positioning allows for the appearance of uninterrupted eye contact with the audience.

2. Glass Angling: The glass or reflective surface of the teleprompter is angled to reflect the text from a screen placed below the stage. This positioning, sometimes using a one-way mirror, ensures that the text is not visible to the audience while remaining clear to the speaker.

3. Adjusting Font Size: The teleprompter operator adjusts the font size and scroll speed to match the Presidents preference. The text should scroll at a pace that feels natural to the speaker, allowing them to maintain a smooth and coherent delivery.

4. Testing Visibility: Before the event begins, a final test ensures that the text is perfectly visible to the President without any glare or distortion. This may involve adjusting the angle or lighting around the teleprompter to optimize readability.

5. Technical Checks: The teleprompter operator performs one last technical check to ensure that the software, controls, and connections are functioning flawlessly. The President can also have a final run-through to make any last-minute adjustments or clarifications.

The behind-the-scenes world of the presidential teleprompter operator is a fascinating and essential part of modern-day public speaking. The teleprompter has evolved from its mechanical origins to become a sophisticated digital aid for all presidential speeches. It helps maintain eye contact, enhance public speaking skills, and reduce the likelihood of mistakes, playing a crucial role in delivering speeches with confidence and precision. The setup involves meticulous preparation, equipment checks, and operator briefings, resulting in a seamless and invisible presence on the stage, offering the audience a flawless presentation. The presidential teleprompter remains vital for effective communication for world leaders and political speakers.

The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) Audio Visual (AV) team provides all necessary equipment and personnel, primarily sourced from WHCA’s Anacostia facility, for presidential and vice-presidential speeches. While approved subcontractors may sometimes be utilized, WHCA AV retains full responsibility for all services. These typically include teleprompter operations, broadcast audio and public address systems, video recording, and livestreaming. Additionally, WHCA AV supplies unique White House equipment such as presidential podiums, seals, and flags. For indoor events, lighting and sound support are essential. The venue, staging, and backdrops are also prepared by White House staff, ensuring the President is ready to deliver the speech.

 

Carl Allen's Podcast with Donald Cammel (2024)

Carl Allen’s Podcast Featuring Donald Cammel
https://youtu.be/dQfcNBSugbw
Type Of Activity	Podcast
Location
Location	Walkers Cay Bahama Islands
Date of Activity	Oct 2023
Coordinates	27°15′27.8″N 78°23′40.7″W

I wish to thank John Cross for keeping his blog current and creating an archive of what I refer to as the “Old WHCA”. Many of us that were assigned in that era were homesteaders and had a very rewarding career. I know that my 2nd career with Digital Microwave Corp and later Spectalink were a result of my interface with them while in WHCA. Now 50 years later, another special recognition and invitation by Carl Allen to visit Walkers Cay after almost 50 years is indeed a gift that keeps on giving. All my success in WHCA was a team effort and I have lifetime friendships that go back to 1967. .

I have become almost a folk hero in my small hometown in Kansas, and never intended to be in the spotlight. Unfortunately, the label for a podcast created in October 2023 during my return visit to Walkers Cay shows me as a USSS agent, and YouTube is very unforgiving once something is posted’ .

Think of the challenges with salt air corrosion, and hot weather. We didn’t have a Radio Shack, Home Depot or Lowes down the street. Lots of creative repairs until we could get parts sent to the island. .

Thank-you, Enjoy the video.

President Clinton's White House Fund Raisers (1995)

 

WHCA A/V Support - The Clinton Coffees
President Clinton at one of the White House Fund Raisers
Type Of Activity	Presidential Activities - WHCA A/V Support
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	Jan. 1, 1995 and Aug. 23, 1996
Coordinates	38°53′52″N 77°02′11″W

When Alexander Butterfield disclosed to the Watergate Congressional Committee that Richard Nixon had sanctioned the installation of secret tape recording devices by the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) in the Oval Office, and other sensitive locations to secretly capture his private conversations, I can still vividly remember the storm of news articles that ensued. These articles fervently called for WHCA to surrender of all of these tapes to the Justice Department and the Special Prosecutor for use during the ongoing impeachment hearings. 

Casting an unwanted spotlight on the typically discreet WHCA, Previously accustomed to operating quietly, the organization now found itself under intense scrutiny, With no room for its members to be implicated with wrongdoing while carrying out their assigned tasks. WHCA always displayed zero tolerance towards any individual implicated in misconduct. Yet now, the entire organization found itself under intense scrutiny for simply carrying out the instructions it had been given.

On October 4 1997, Time magazine is credited with breaking this story, deep into the Senate hearings on campaign finance reform, the Clinton administration turned over to investigators “belatedly discovered” videotapes of the infamous White House coffees and contribution's received to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom. Within days, the White House Communications Agency, the unfortunate maker, and keeper of the tapes, just as was the case with the Watergate tapes found itself under siege again from all sides. Why hadn’t the agency responded to previous committee inquiries regarding taped events? Why had WHCA ignored a memo from the White House requesting all videos of coffees and political events?

Attorney General Janet Reno was furious. President Clinton said he was even more furious. And Senate Committee Chairman Fred Thompson and his Republican cohorts were downright apoplectic. Having requested all pertinent information on the events months earlier, GOP lawmakers charged that this delay in producing the tapes was another example of the administration’s obstructionist “foot-dragging.

 ” Between Jan. 1, 1995 and Aug. 23, 1996, some 1,500 people were invited to the White House for coffee sessions and with the right political contribution and overnight stays in the Lincoln bedroom as guests of President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore. The coffees were a fundraising scheme hatched by Clinton’s longtime political adviser Dick Morris, and may have raised more than $3.5 million for the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton/Gore re-election effort. But now the questions are, who were the donors invited to these gatherings and what promises did they receive from the administration in exchange for their political contributions?

 As the news media detailed the furious finger-pointing, what emerged read more like a comedy of errors than a grand conspiracy: The White House had sent a memo to WHCA in April, but part of the memo hadn’t gotten distributed by the White House Military Office, so WHCA officials didn’t know the White House wanted the database searched specifically for coffee footage, and certainly nobody at WHCA had thought to query the database using the keywords “coffee or Lincoln bedroom.”

But an even more basic question is likely to remain unexplored: What were WHCA camera crews doing at those coffees to begin with?

 The agency’s stated reason for attending the events sounds benign enough: The duties of the White House Communications Agency include videotaping “key” moments in the presidency for posterity. But while this may be a valid explanation for WHCA crews’ tailing the president to peace conferences and their presence around him during state dinners, it still leaves the question of why they were on hand for DNC fund-raisers and White House love-ins with big-money donors. The agency is, after all, under operational control of the White House, and senior White House aides are, in fact, the folks who arrange for WHCA coverage of an event.

Didn’t the president or someone on his staff ever question the wisdom of having Bill Clinton’s years in office memorialized as a never-ending kiss-up to checkbook-swinging fat cats? Granted, fund-raising is fast becoming the primary activity of America’s elected officials. But to preserve in Technicolor detail the pathetic realities of today’s political money-grub is hardly a shrewd move for a guy supposedly obsessed with his presidential “legacy.”

A handful of explanations for WHCA’s videotaping the coffees comes to mind. One, President Clinton wanted them there. After five years in the Oval Office, Clinton’s judgment may have been so eroded by all of the bowing and scraping that accompany the job, that he came to assume any move he made merited video documentation. (Footage of at least 44 coffees and more than 200 fundraisers were turned over to congressional investigator's.)

A plausible scenario is that Clinton never thought twice about the cameras being there—that he is so accustomed to being shadowed by the video crews that he no longer notices when they’re around. This, at least, was the impression given by former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes in his October testimony before Congress concerning the WHCA incident. When asked about the agency’s function, Ickes responded: “I’m fortunate, I think, that I know little about it. They were around a great deal of time to the extent that those of us traveling with, or with the president in meetings or otherwise, came not to even notice them, quite frankly…. My understanding [is] that they were a unit of the United States military and that their function is to record … certain events and certain statements by the president. I don’t know when they are called. I don’t know what the criteria is for what they film and what they take on audio. All I know is they were there, and they were there quite frequently, but not all the time.” Ickes’ offered similar insight into the workings of WHCA’s operational overseer, the White House Military Office: 

One might get the impression from Ickes’ statement that, despite its size, WHCA has never been very important to anyone in the White House. One would be wrong. If anything, the agency’s low profile was once a sign of the exact opposite. As a part of the even lower-profile White House Military Office, WHCA has long been among  one of the least understood government agencies.

From the Eisenhower administration up through Reagan, WHCA’s overseer, the White House Military Office, is known to have controlled a multimillion-dollar secret fund (maintained ostensibly for the construction of presidential bomb shelters) into which the president could dip any time and for any purpose he so desired. The various abuses of this fund—including JFK’s upgrading family properties, President Johnson’s spending millions to improve the wiring and plumbing at his Texas ranch, Nixon’s using half a million for a swimming pool at Camp David—are outlined in the 1980 book Breaking Cover, by former WHMO Director Bill Gulley. The White House Military Office simply hid any expenditure the president did not want examined by “classifying” it as a matter of “presidential security,” said Gulley, who noted that WHCA personnel were frequently employed for these “classified” projects. For example, from the time he left office until six months after his death, LBJ had a dozen WHCA staffers down at his ranch, compliments of the WHMO fund.

The book also includes memos documenting WHCAs setting up of LBJ’s secret taping system. Wrote Gulley, “It’s no exaggeration to say [the Military Office is] the President’s Aladdin’s lamp: there’s nothing that can’t be done, and there’s a bottomless pit of money, ingenuity, and resources to do it with.” When Breaking Cover was released in 1980, the Reagan White House admitted to the existence of the secret fund, which had survived undetected throughout the uproar and paranoid aftermath of Watergate, but vowed that the Gipper would never dream of misusing it. WHMO and the White House Counsel’s Office have been unavailable for comment on the current status of the fund.

Today, the administration remains very protective where WHCA and WHMO are concerned. In March of 1994, Congress asked the General Accounting Office to look into the agency’s management and finances. Although the GAO’s preliminary inquiries raised concerns about, among other issues, WHCA’s budgeting policies, investigators were barred from pursuing the matter by the White House. As the GAO’s Assistant Comptroller Henry L. Hinton Jr. later told the House subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice “On three occasions in May, June, and August 1994, DoD representatives advised us that the White House had prohibited DoD contact with GAO or release of DoD data.” The GAO pursued the matter, said Hinton, and “during a January 1995 meeting with DoD and White House staff, White House Counsel staff indicated that we would not be provided the information needed to further pursue these issues.” The White House explained that its denial of the GAO’s request was because WHCA operations involved matters of “presidential protection.”

In February 1995, an agreement was finally reached whereby the Defense Department’s Inspector General would conduct an audit of WHCA. But even then, the White House kept an eye on the proceedings. In the 1996 follow-up hearings, the House Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice requested testimony from the head of WHMO, presidential appointee Alan Sullivan. The White House Counsel’s office wrote a letter seeking to block Sullivan’s appearance. In Sullivan’s place they sent WHCA Commander Col. Joseph Simmons.

But even Simmons’ testimony proved controversial. Simmons first submitted a prepared statement indicating that “WHMO provides operational direction and control to the WHCA. Simmons then submitted a second statement from which this reference to the White House’s oversight role had been deleted. The change had been made upon recommendation from someone who had reviewed the document, Simmons told the subcommittee, although he could not say precisely whom. Democrats chalked the incident up to a simple editing decision. Republicans saw it as the White House’s attempts to distance itself from the agency.

The administration’s apparent evasions on WHCA, along with the nature and history of the agency, bring up the very real possibility that the White House is not at all ignorant of the agency’s operations.

Congressional Republicans certainly suspect as much, and the recent videotape fiasco has spurred a movement to launch hearings by early spring into the perceived abuses of WHCA. But the public shouldn’t expect too much from a congressional inquiry. WHCA has made a career of operating under the radar, and Congress will be hard-pressed to breach the walls of “presidential security” surrounding the agency. As Congressman Souder admits, right around the time last year that House members were hearing testimony on the appropriateness of WHCA’s oversight and operations, WHCA video crews were—unbeknownst to the subcommittee—busy working the coffee/fund-raiser circuit.

Transcripts of the DOD IG Audit of WHCA (1995) and Congressional Hearings of Oversight of the White House Communications Agency (1996)

 

 

 

 

DOD IG Audit of WHCA (1995)

 

DOD IG Audit of WHCA
Type Of Activity	DOD IG Audit
Location
Location	Washington DC
Date of Activity	Dec 1995
Coordinates	38°53′52″N 77°02′11″W

Despite WHCA’s considerable size, WHCA has operated with little attention from either its Defense Department or White House masters. The agency’s basic tasks have been reviewed only three times since its inception, and it escaped formal audit until a DOD IG audit was completed in  November 1995. This report on phase one of the audit cited “no evidence of significant theft or significant waste” in WHCA, but noted several areas in need of “management attention.” Among these:

The initial attempts to conduct oversight of this 900-person, $100 million-a-year White House-directed agency were made by Congress 2 years ago in 1994. Those attempts were met with repeated  delays  and White House stonewalling. Early last year, after meetings with the White House Counsel's office, GAO, and the Department of Defense IG's office, Congress finally received the approval to have an IG's investigation done going back 5 years.

WHCA was annually performing $7.8 million worth of tasks beyond the scope of its mission; it was unable to account for more than half a million dollars’ worth of agency property; and it was paying close to $800,000 to lease superfluous equipment. The April 1996 phase-two report concluded that WHCA was receiving “little or no oversight of budgeting, acquisition planning, and organizational effectiveness,” and recommended that the DoD’s oversight role be strengthened.

WHCA has been a deep, dark hole over at the White House into which there has been spending nearly $100 million annually without any executive branch oversight. It  has  also become  a  pot of money devoted to many things-kind of a miscellaneous pot of money-that have nothing to do with telecommunications or the President. 

The White House Communications Agency has had a totally unique mission, and the staff who serves there perform their duties exceptionally well and have done so for more than 50 years and for 11 Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans.

The DOD IG’s report concluded that WHCA's budgets have gone largely unreviewed. Its annual performance plan has failed to meet DOD standards. Its acquisition planning has violated DOD  regulations and resulted in wasteful purchases.

Finally, the DOD IG concluded that WHCA is providing the White House with services and equipment which are outside way, out­side of the scope of its mission of telecommunications support to the President of the United States.

The executive summary is copied below with complete report available at Audit Report on White House Communications Agency. (Report No. 96-033) and Audit Report on White House Communications Agency Phase II. (Report No. 96-100)    

Transcript of Congressional hearings conducted on May 16 and June 13, 1996 Oversight of theWhite House Communications Agency

INSPECTOR GENERAL

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

400 ARMY NAVY DRIVE

ARLINGTON. VIRGINIA 22202·2884

November 29, 1995

MEMORANDUM FOR DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE MILITARY OFFICE

UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (COMPTROLLER)

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (COMMAND,CONTROL, COMMUNICATIONS AND INTELLIGENCE)

DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY

COMMANDER, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY

SUBJECT: Audit Report on White House Communications Agency

(Report No. 96-033)

We are providing this report for review and comment. We performed the audit in response to a request from Congress and the Deputy Secretary of Defense. We considered management comments on a draft of this report in preparing the final report.

The recommendations in Findings A and B relate to a reallocation of funding between parts of the DoD budget and the budget for the Executive Office of the President. Finding A questions the appropriateness of DoD, through the White House Communications Agency, funding audiovisual, stenographic and news wire services and photographic equipment for the White House. Finding B covers the provision of .White House Communications Agency support and equipment to the Secret Service. Although the Secret Service is required by law to reimburse an agency providing the support, the Secret Service has not done so. Several DoD appropriations and Secret Service appropriations would be affected by the recommendations. Thus, we suggest early consultation with the Office of Management and Budget and the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) so those changes, if agreed to, could be implemented in the President's FY 1997 budget.                     

DoD Directive 7650.3 requires that all recommendations be resolved promptly. Management comments were responsive to all recommendations except the recommendation to specify services to be provided by the White House Communications Agency and to transfer funding, managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President. We request that the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) reconsider his position and provide additional comments by January 12, 1996.

We have not completed our audit of all aspects of White House Communications Agency activities. We started work on the final phase of the audit and expect to provide a draft report in early 1996. The issues we plan to review during the final phase include the organization and staffing of the White House Communications Agency, acquisition planning, management of telecommunications equipment and services, and controls over selected financial activities.

Office of the Inspector General, DoD

November 29, 1995

Report No. 96-033

(project No. 5RD-5027)

White House Communications Agency

Executive Summary

Introduction. The Chairman,  House Committee on Government Reform and  Oversight; the Chairman, House Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight; and the Deputy Secretary of Defense requested the audit. The Deputy Secretary of Defense emphasized that this review should be as thorough as possible of all White House Communications Agency (WHCA) activities in the last 5 years.

Audit Objectives. The audit objective was to review all activities at the WHCA, the authorities and management controls under which the activities are conducted, and various nonspecific allegations of mismanagement and waste. The adequacy of the management control program will be discussed in a subsequent report.

Audit Results. We found no evidence of theft or significant waste of resources in this phase of the audit. However, the following areas need management attention.

o During FY 1995, WHCA and DoD funded about $7.8 million for services and equipment that are not within the scope of the WHCA telecommunications mission as presently defined and should be funded by the Executive Office of the President (Finding A).

o WHCA was not reimbursed for permanent support to the Secret Service, as required by law, and understated support costs reported to Congress by $3.2 million. The Secret Service did not reimburse about $4.3 million for support and, because DoD absorbed support costs, the. The Secret Service budget was augmented by that amount. WHCA is expected to provide permanent support valued at $7.0 million during FYs 1996 through FY 2001 for which DoD should be reimbursed by the Secret Service (Finding B)..

o WHCA managers did not maintain control over repair parts inventories, and contracting officer's representatives did not document maintenance data. Therefore, WHCA can neither ensure the adequacy or accountability of repair parts inventories nor determine the cost-effectiveness of maintenance contracts (Finding C).

o WHCA lacked accountability for nonexpendable property on hand and had excess expendable supplies valued at about $226,000. Property valued at about $577,000 was not accounted for and is at risk for potential waste or loss. Further, by reducing the requisition objective for expendable items and by eliminating excess expendable items with no demand histories, $226,000 could be put to better use during FY 1996 (Finding D).

o The inventory of base communications equipment and services is neither complete nor accurate. Consequently, the inventory could not be audited, and WHCA could neither review and revalidate communications requirements nor assess the cost effectiveness of configurations for equipment and services. Further, WHCA is at risk of paying for unneeded equipment and services (Finding E).

o WHCA paid for leased, long-haul telecommunications circuits and equipment that were no longer required. If the circuits are terminated, about $759,000 can be put to better use during FYs 1996 through 2001 (Finding F).

o WHCA did not validate bills for long-haul telecommunications equipment and services before verifying that the bills were accurate. As a result, WHCA had no assurance that payments ceased for terminated services or that payments would not be initiated for services ordered but not installed. If effective procedures are implemented, about $294,000 could be put to better use during FYs 1996 through 2001(Finding G).

Summary of Recommendations. We recommend that management take the following corrective actions.

o Specify the services. that WHCA is to provide to the Executive Office of the President.              Transfer responsibility for funding, managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President.

o Specify the permanent and temporary support provided to the Secret Service and determine which is reimbursable or non-reimbursable, specify billing procedures, and bill the Secret Service for reimbursable support provided during FY 1995 and continue to bill for all future reimbursable support.

o Fully implement the existing maintenance management system, turn in excess. repair parts, update lists of equipment under maintenance contracts, and use vendor service reports to assess the cost-effectiveness of maintenance contracts.

o Record identified property in the property book, establish the control point for receiving all property, perform monthly reconciliations of the document register, annually review requisition objectives, and turn in excess property.

o Establish a complete and accurate inventory of short-haul equipment and services, and maintain required inventory records.

o Initiate action to terminate unneeded long-haul circuits and equipment, establish the required review and revalidation program for equipment and services and establish a complete inventory of equipment and services.

o Establish procedures to verify the accuracy of Customer Cost and Obligation Reports on a monthly basis.

Management Comments. The Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) submitted joint comments for himself; the Director, DISA; and the Commander, WHCA. The Assistant Secretary concurred in all recommendations except for the recommendation to specify the services that WHCA is to provide to the White House and to transfer responsibility for funding, managing, contracting, and purchasing of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and camera equipment to the Executive Office of the President. See Part I for a summary of management comments and Part III for the complete text of management comments.

Audit Response. As a result of information from management, we deleted one recommendation (Finding D) regarding property accountability. The Assistant Secretary's comments are not responsive regarding the recommendation related to specifying WHCA services and transferring these responsibilities. We maintain that WHCA should not fund the costs of audiovisual, news wire, and stenographic services and photographic equipment for the White House absent clearer direction to do so. We do not question the President's need for the services, contracts, or equipment provided by WHCA, and we recognize the legal authority of the President to issue an Executive  Order to specify the services WHCA is to provide. However, as a DoD organization, WHCA is governed by DoD Directive 4640.13 in providing telecommunications services and the functions now performed and funded by WHCA go beyond telecommunications services as defined in that Directive. We request that the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) reconsider his position and provide additional comments in response to the final report by January 12, 1996.