Space: Meese's Mice

Ever eager to win support in high places, NASA dispatched one of its 23-inch desktop models of space shuttle Columbia to Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese. But like the original, it had a few problems. As the model sat in Meese's darkened office over the weekend, its cargo bay inexplicably swung open. Small metal pieces fell out. So sensitive is the White House alarm system these days that a flock of "white mice"—the nickname for agents responsible for office security—came scurrying. To their bafflement, they found the room locked, unoccupied and undisturbed. As with the real shuttle, it took quite a bit...

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