Garrett M. Graff

The attorney general apparently at the mention of the destruction of the air conditioning smiles, presumably puts his pipe back in his mouth.

And Garrett Graff in his new history of Watergate wrote, this is when, quote, misguided national security impulses morph into democratic politicians essentially being treated as enemies of the state.

Yeah, there is.

And it might be a subtle distinction for our listeners, but I think an important one, which is Ellsberg in the minds of many of the people involved in the story is an actual enemy of the state because he has leaked classified information that hostile powers now have access to.

The plane was supposed to mirror the task of the bunker in issuing retaliation orders.

The excellent book Raven Rock by Garrett Graff tells us the procedure for the crew on board a Looking Glass plane.

Each morning, that day's war plan and authentication codes would be brought on board by two armed officers.

The war plan would be presented to the general, known in this specific role as the Airborne Emergency Action Officer.

I'd say probably about four or five years ago.

Now, Karen Ho, she picked one of my favorite nonfiction books, the only play in the style by Garrett Graff.

She calls it a sad yet important read.

I agree.

And then within days, it's rescinded.

It's important to bring this up, though, because Garrett Graff, who's written this great book on Watergate – I think it's called Watergate, A New History – wrote that the plan was dead, but it would have nine lives.

And the essence here is that the structure of what this staffer is proposing and what Nixon has signed off on, which essentially is a White House-directed political intelligence slash burglary unit

is going to come back.

He's launched an independent publication called Paradigm with a weekly briefing called Signs of Life.

And I wanted to ask him what persuaded a reporter with his background to commit himself to a subject that so many of his colleagues still seem so reluctant to touch.

Well, that conversation is still on the agenda today.

But then today, just as we were getting ready for this interview, Ben published a new story that moved straight to the top of our discussion.