![]() ![]() One guard held the old recorder, turned it over warily, eyed it bottom and top, unsnapped the only operable snap and examined it more closely. Official admittance form and official escort notwithstanding, great suspicion was expressed about whether it could be permitted to go into there. Only then did the tape recorder make its way to another metal detector machine around which four guards were posted. Finally, an official form was produced and filled out appropriately. The official escort aide had to depart to check on ways that it could be admitted. The recorder could not be passed merely along the conveyor belt of the ubiquitous, airport-style metal detector/X-ray machine now a staple at federal agencies and symbol of this new age of tightened security around the world - it had to be cleared. There, it created instant bureaucratic suspicion when its keeper walked to the check-in desk at the main lobby to keep a reporting appointment that included a conversation with the Cabinet officer in charge of the department. In each of those places, the old machine passed without incident through the security net that has been noticeably tightened here. It is, in fact, inseparable from that life and, in recent days since war came again to Washington, has performed well in recording conversations with officials at the White House complex, in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. One of the snaps on its leather case is missing, and the recorder itself is bent and battered from extensive use.īut it works, and over many years of reporting excursions here, around the country and overseas, this old friend has become a familiar and reassuring appendage to a reporter's daily life. The machine shows unmistakable signs of advancing age. This one is older and bigger it must be carried in the hand or dangled heavily from the wrist by an attached strap. The tape recorder isn't a high-tech model like the new, small, voice-activated ones that slip easily into a pocket, showing scarcely a bulge, and perform other electronic wonders. It is offered here only as a small example of how the war has changed Washington and is likely to do so far into the future. In the grand scheme of Washington in wartime, the following tale of a tape recorder is of marginal interest at best. ![]()
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