Massive Theft Feared At Reagan Library

The Skinny: 80,000 Items Unaccounted For -- "Near Universal" Security Breach Left Mementos Open To Theft By Insiders

(CBS)  The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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If there are two things that really stuck in the late President Ronald Reagan's craw, it was weak security and government inefficiency. So there's an extra sting to the Los Angeles Times' report that both seem to have descended on his presidential library with a vengeance.

A recent audit by the National Archives inspector general found that the Reagan library in Simi Valley, Calif. was unable to properly account for more than 80,000 Reagan mementos out of its collection of some 100,000 such items, and "may have experienced loss or pilferage the scope of which will likely never be known." The report described a "near universal" security breakdown at the library.

Inspector General Paul Brachfeld said his office was investigating allegations that a former employee stole Reagan memorabilia but that the probe had been hampered by sloppy record-keeping.

"We have been told by sources that a person who had access capability removed holdings," Brachfeld told the Times. "But we can't lock in as to what those may be."

The hilltop complex is the most visited of the nation's 12 presidential libraries, and includes the Air Force One that served as the "Flying White House" for seven presidents.

It is also supposed to include a large collection of ornamented Western belt buckles given to the president over the years by admirers who knew of his attachment to his ranch - but nobody's quite sure if it's still there or not.

The library has accepted the audit's criticisms and is working to fix the problems. A National Archives spokeswoman said that part of the problem is that presidential libraries did not have the same strict preservation guidelines used by most museums, and that funding was an issue.

"Our resources are spread pretty thin," she said.

Well, come to think of it, maybe Reagan wouldn't have minded this state of affairs. He did oppose big government, after all.

Clinton In A "Dead Heat" With Giuliani In Poll

Most Americans want nothing to do with anything remotely Bush-related - including those presidential candidates who share his party - but they're not so sure they're ready for another Clinton, either, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that, by a 50 percent to 35 percent margin, Americans prefer that a Democrat gets elected to the presidency next November. But offsetting that demand for change are reservations about Hillary Clinton's truthfulness and ideology, even as Americans applaud her leadership qualities.

The result: Clinton is in a dead heat with leading Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani when the two are matched up.

Smelling blood, perhaps, Giuliani has been taking an aggressive stance with his in-state rival lately. While promoting his anti-terror credentials with tough talk on Iran, the former major slammed Clinton for displaying "the worst of the Clinton years" by equivocating in the debate on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

"If you think a question about driver's licenses is a tough question, a gotcha question," he told a New Hampshire town hall meeting a few days ago. "You're not ready for [Iranian leader Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad."

Pilots Can (And Do!) Fly Planes While Sleeping

Next time you're nestling your balled jacket up against the airplane window, trying to block out the engine's roar so you can get some shut-eye, you might also want to block out this: USA Today reports that passengers aren't the only ones drifting off to dreamland on flights. Pilots sometimes do too.

The paper reports that hundreds of pilots, mechanics and air-traffic controllers reported that fatigue led them to make mistakes on the job, including six cases in which pilots fell asleep mid-flight.

In once case, a pilot and co-pilot fell asleep while descending toward Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., NASA records say. And Frontier Airlines acknowledged Wednesday that two of its pilots fell asleep on a 2004 flight from Baltimore to Denver. One pilot awoke to "frantic calls" from a controller, according to NASA reports.

None of the incidents caused an accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board will address the issue of fatigue today at its annual hearing to adopt its "most wanted" safety enhancements.

May we suggest cockpit alarm clocks?

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[missingamerica]

That''s pretty funny. Republicans even steal from each other.

[likeabllunch]

'' .. war rapes babys & what u did was assaulting an officet, u get a medal of honor & u are henceforth an officet: u get to to visit 1 sick bed at up to 33 villages each night spread across 3 or 6 countys so to cut & paste your blooms & other inventorys for up to 33 dollars each night, hold hands & weave bouquets, recycle garbage & garden to educational props accents dances jingles arts crafts knicks knacks, shopgift grass dirt for cures cancer other margaritas margaritas other cures cancer, shift shapes, toggle virtual & realtime, travel eternitys at speed of thought, hikenswim nerfbus bumpcar camp & nap, dance get well feed world get sick tax world hike naked dance dressed porn songs rallyd round billions sick beds that swimm & drift tens millions spore bloom weed dragon trail fickle first aid lunch farm cottage studio trail crossing yseedsberry trail groups dotted wit homed sheltets, speckled with drip compost fertilizet & drip water irrigatet, dcorated with folk playing zero resistance free form tai chi aikido yogaerobic inkblot sport & puzzle for life & lunch the musical epic quest to cure the common death & the wondet supet flora poet ballot ballet bowl & lusty forge your own epic karaoke feed worlds with free food medicine for each & all forever & evermore & infinite wishes come true .. if any ask which came first, eternity or earth? earth & eternity came together, so any answer is logical .. ''

[omega39-2009]

It would be fitting to take this library out of the government run national archives system and sell it to a private equity firm.

[likeabllunch]

'' ... four and five year olds going to school is like proverbial europe importing slaves, while 18 to 25 year olds leaving are like proverbial pilgrams fleeing fast as they can ... if proverbial europe is to get an education, europe will have to pay fortunes of interactivity by way of equitable market share for all so as to insure that the proverbial pilgrams are comfortable enough not only to stick around, and not only to remember and perform more than a thing or two, but to feel as to share such things remembered and performed as well ... ''

Piloting an airplane while lacking sleep is a dangerous business. Duty of care calls for the safety of passengers and the people on the ground as well . If Pilots cannot have the eight recommended sleep hours, then they should be monitored by built-in camera in the cockpit . Such camera should be linked to the air-traffic-controllers who will keep an eye on them for the whole trip. Security-cameras are now used to control criminal behaviour in buses and taxis. Why "safety-camera" cannot be used on airplanes to tell Pilots ''it''s time for a stong espresso'' ?!
Ahmed Debabi.
18, Burnside avenue, apt # 602, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. K1Y 4V7
E-Mail: [e-mail]
TEL : [phone]/after 2:00 PM/EST.

[jayhawk216]

The person who wrote the headline to this story should be fired..and then shot. This is one of the most irresponsible stories ever written about a museum collection. "Massive Theft"? That is BS!! There are museums across this country that cannot locate and retrieve items as specifically requested. This is a result in the breakdown of Collection Management Policy and Procedure. Modern museums utilize database software to maintain intellectual control over the colletion. Obviously, the Reagan Museum has a serious problem in that department. Just because the items cannot be located on a database, does not mean they were stolen. It is more than likely that the 80,000 items were never properly catalogued into an automated database...it''s that simple. The breakdown is in the record keeping, not the security...which operates 24 hours a day. Tell the reporter to actually do some research on museum operations before allowing him to write such ***.

[fairandbal]

It was Bush trying to read up on how Reagan tried to kill public education. Bush is hating children poor children as much as Reagan, he must be doing it from the same play books.

[keithle1]

Punks. Messing with Ronnie. I didn''t know it was the most visited Presidential library.

[shanev137]

Too bad we still haven''t recovered from the debt that Ronnie Raygun left us with.

[zootallures2]

al-Qaeda stole his hair coloring.

[newsjunky5]

Perhaps the items were stolen by Iranians, to remember the days when Reagan made a deal with them, to undermine a sitting president.
First he denied it, then admitted it, saying, "let the chips fall where they may." Remember that speech, you half-witted Reagan fans?

[iceman_1960]

"Dee Dee Myers, ***** Morris, George Stephanopoulos and others have all said in interviews and other places how explosive Hillary"s temper is, what a back-stabber she is, how conniving she is, and on and on.
You don"t want her for President."
- Posted by hawksprings at 02:03 PM : Nov 08, 2007

hawksprings is a big fan of Rudy Giuliani, whose own children won"t speak to him.

His daughter Caroline won"t even use the name Giuliani. She is supporting Barack Obama for President.

If Chelsea Clinton were so alienated from Hillary that she changed her last name and was backing Mitt Romney or John McCain, we"d never hear the end of it around here from hawksprings and other Right Wingers.

[newsjunky5]

It''s a good thing Reagan fired those most experience of all the air traffic controllers, who struck. They were hoarse from shouting on the picket line, and were no longer able to wake up the pilots.

[watcher269-2009]

Heeheehee - Republicans protecting Republicans - Be Worried - Be VERY Worried.

[denn034]

Let me also say, due to the fact that CBS has closed other Reagan stories to comments, that I miss Reagan. Too bad my party has forsaken Reaganomics.

[denn034]

This Reagan Republican deplores the theft and hopes the perpetrator(s) are brought to justice and get the book thrown at them.

[newsjunky5]

Tried to wake up the pilot, but the dern cockpit door was locked. Banged on it, and the Air Marshall tried to cap my *ss.

You''re right Iceman_1960, that is a funny combination of stories.

[iceman_1960]

It"s funny that "the Skinny" put this Ronald Reagan Library story together with one about planes being flown by sleeping pilots.

[newsjunky5]

Not only has his library been cleaned out, but the Cold War is back on.

[iceman_1960]

"THE GAME, by James Webber"

According to amazon.com, it"s recommended for readers age 9-12.

I don"t think any of the posters here at CBSNEWS.com are that old yet.