Desk Job
How did Ameenah Franks defeat the post-9/11 security apparatus?
Cover Story
On Aug. 17, 2004, security officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) started receiving reports of a spree of thefts at agency headquarters in White Flint, Md. About $800 had gone missing in the space of a few hours and it looked like an outside job. Report No. 08-21 described a typical encounter with the unknown suspect.
A little before 2 p.m. the previous day, a woman returned to her office and found a stranger sitting at her desk. According to the report, the uninvited guest was a young African-American woman with straight black hair that hung past her shoulders. She wore black slacks and a white blouse. “I was going to leave you a note,” the stranger said, rising from the chair. She explained that she had a piece of mail for the woman and needed to deliver it in person.
Her supervisor had insisted she get a signature since the parcel was actually addressed to someone else. Oh, and she didn’t have it with her right then. The “whole thing seemed very odd,” the NRC employee later told investigators. Nonetheless, she allowed her visitor to leave without further questions. In a hurry to make a 2 p.m. meeting, she left the office as well.
A few minutes later, the employee’s secretary saw the girl back at her boss’ desk. She wore an NRC badge, turned backward. The young woman explained she needed to leave a note and asked for paper. When the secretary returned with a notepad, the girl had moved closer to a filing cabinet, her back facing the door. She wrote a note and left.... Continued 
Issue of Feb. 8 - 15, 2008
News and Features
- Desk Job
Cover Story - Management Bile
The City - Tell It to the Judge
The City - Dirt Farm
Comics
Distractions- Page Three Photo
Distractions - Unpleasantness
The Mail
Columns
- Playing Catch-Up
Cheap Seats - Insure Thing
The Straight Dope - Barack Steady
Loose Lips - GGG Grandma
Savage Love
Eats
- Swiss Missed
Young & Hungry
Movies
- In Bruges and Taxi to the Dark Side: Tragic Realism
Film Review - Vaughn & Games
Film Review
Music
- One Track Mind
Music - Living in Synth
Music Review
Theater
- Matériel Bliss
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- What's Your Problem?
What's Your Problem? - Sketch Comedy
Show & Tell - Gingham Back Alive
Arts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Dan Melchior Und Das Menace
Arts & Events - "Ingmar Bergman Remembered"
Arts & Events - "Our City Film Festival"
Arts & Events - Gerald Stern and Ross Gay
Arts & Events - The Liars
Arts & Events - William T. Vollmann
Arts & Events - Tony Oursler
Arts & Events - "Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture"
Arts & Events - Willie Brown
Arts & Events - Manil Suri
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This Week in
City Paper History
- Angels Without Wings
Oct. 2 - 8, 1998 - Fare Elections
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003 - Kicking and Screaming
Oct. 3 - 9, 2003
