QUESTION: Did you know that Presidential phone calls are NOT recorded? So how are they preserved? We asked @larrypfeifferdc Director of @mvhaydencenter, who ran the White House Situation room for several years to answer. Follow this thread.
"Memcon is short for 'Memorandum of a Conversation,' the term the White House uses for a document recounting the contents of a Presidential phone call with a foreign leader."...
"It can take various forms from a near-verbatim transcript down to a few short lines summarizing the call. It is not a 100% perfect rendering of the call. The White House does not tape or voice record a Presidential call with a foreign leader."...
"Instead duty officers in the White House Situation Room listen to the call, quickly typing what they hear. Other members of the National Security Council staff, who also listen in on the call, will take that rough transcript,"...
"correct any substantive errors, and draft a final memcon to memorialize the call for historical purposes. The memcon is then usually distributed to senior USG officials in pertinent agencies and departments for sharing with appropriate members of their staffs."
For more information about the @mvhaydencenter, check out this link. hayden.gmu.edu.
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