Experiment in Democracy?

       Lisa Mergenthaler was quickly becoming the most highly regarded journalist on issues regarding the intersection of science and politics in the United States.

        Her daily livestream blog, The Scientific Politicizer,”  had become the manual for insights into almost all science-based discussion of national policy for thought leaders across the ideological spectrum.

       Yet, she still greeted with some surprise the invitation from President Imela Parrish to join her in a tour of the top secret National Science Foundation facility inside the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. 

      Rumors had swelled around Washington recently about a “backup plan” to make sure the president’s policies remained in force. Many top government officials felt the situation had become even more critical because of fears of a government takeover by extremists behind the recent storming of the White House grounds.

           Anonymous sources on the president’s staff believed the NSF staff inside MIT had begun work on an AI shadow administration to handle the day-to-day appearances of Parrish. Meanwhile, the country’s commander-in-chief would work in secret in the MIT lab in Boston mapping out detailed plans to preserve her policies in the event of her assassination or a terrorist takeover.

            The president had invited Lisa along on the tour because the journalist had a broad following both in the administration and among some elements of the extremist network. She felt that, when the time was right to reveal her plans, the reporter’s bipartisan following would make approval easier.

              As the day for the tour approached, Mergenthaler began receiving cryptic text messages delivered to her by Tad Lorenzen, a prominent DC attorney closely aligned with the president. Lorenzen did not officially hold a position in the government, thus further guaranteeing the confidentiality of the project.

             Lorenzen, in an encoded text message, told Lisa, “You will order an Uber whose existence only will be known by Uber’s chief executive, a specially-selected driver and those connected with our mission. That Uber will take you to a room in the basement of Camp David whose existence is not known to anyone outside of a very select circle in the federal government. 

        “At the presidential retreat you will meet Ms. Parrish and a few of her confidential aides. The Uber then will take you to the MIT lab in Boston, where the president will demonstrate the AI project. If you reveal any details of that which you see, the Chief Executive’s involvement or this trip she will deny the existence of the plan and the project and use everything in her power to shatter your credibility.

             “

             “Only at the time that the president and her inner circle have decided the existence of the project becomes necessary to preserve democracy, will you have exclusive rights to publish details of this program.”

      The reporter followed orders precisely as instructed and arrived at Camp David on schedule.  Presidential aides escorted her to the secret location and she joined 

Parrish for the trip to Boston.

             Once they arrived at the MIT facility two FBI agents led them through a maze of plain-looking experiment rooms. They eventually arrived at an apparently deserted area of the laboratory. Two other aides joined the FBI agents and they took the president out of the room and ordered the reporter to wait there for further instructions.

          Mergenthaler waited alone in the semi-darkened room for what seemed like an hour.

          Suddenly, the door opened and the FBI agents entered with a tall, thin man in a wheelchair with a mask over his head.  They again instructed the reporter of the need for total secrecy about everything she saw or heard.

          As one of the agents lifted the mask, to her surprise, Lisa stared back at a much emaciated President John F. Kennedy. 

           “How can this happen? She asked. “President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Numerous people certified that he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Besides, that was 60 years ago. Even if, somehow, someone secretly kept him alive, he would have to be more than 106 years old.”

            The man in the wheelchair responded, “I know how this may startle you. Before the public learned of my so-called assassination, Vice President Johnson, members of my cabinet and some Congressional leaders felt the only way to keep my policies in force in the face of critical times in our country was to stage my killing and have the vice president take my place. They felt the policies would be more successful coming from a leader more acceptable to certain elements in the country. They also wanted to continue the valuable advice I could provide by remaining in the background.”

             Kennedy then explained further that the science of continuing life only had developed into its early stages in the 1960s. It then evolved over the decades, enabling them to extend his life as science became more advanced. 

            “After 60 years those behind our project had just about decided the experiment had reached its endpoint, when President Parrish ran into the problem with the extremists. She believed that, if it continued, our democracy would end. They, therefore, hatched the story of the AI clone of the current Commander-in-Chief in order to allow me to finish my mission.”

              He explained he would continue to provide detailed advice to his current successor so that her policies would stay in force until the end of her term in 2024.  They would be Constitutionally protected so that future administrations could not reverse them.

             “Then, regrettably, the scientists who have kept me alive all this time will send me into the presidential retirement I have dreamed about for too long,” Kennedy said.

              Lisa Mergenthaler, having uncovered the most unbelievable story of her career, left in the Uber that had transported her to Camp David and Boston. She was bound to never breathe a word of it outside the MIT laboratory—bound by her duty to democracy and bound by the fact that those involved promised any breaking of her covenant to them could prove fatal to her career–or worse.