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| SUNRAYS NOVEMBER 2014
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
PHOTOs BY PHOTO PHIL
By Sandy Nielsen
Maintaining and troubleshooting
communications systems for the White
House is no job for wimps. Ask Sun City
resident Lee Forster, who, over the terms
of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter
and Ronald Reagan, held that exact
responsibility for eight years. Whether
he was sweating out communication
glitches at President Reagan’s California
ranch, running a systems check from the
Oval Office or dealing with a motorcade
careening through a foreign country at
over 100 miles per hour, Lee saw to it
that all communications intended for
the Commander in Chief reached their
destinations as quickly and accurately
as possible.
Lee Forst er ’s ent rée t o 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue came 16 years
after he joined the Air Force as a
telecommunications manager. While
teaching telecommunications at Keesler
Air Force Base in Mississippi, Lee
was approached by the White House
Communications Agency recruiters
on the hunt for volunteers with his
expertise. Though he was concerned
about his risk for overseas assignments
and the potential negative impact on his
family, Lee applied, was screened, and
was offered the job.
After relocating to Washington, DC, Lee
found himself working in a below-ground
area of the White House. It was his
responsibility to keep the faxes, teletypes
and radio communications flowing to the
appropriate staff after they had been
decrypted. Photos and letters signed by
presidents and their staff line a wall of
Lee’s Sun City home in testament to the
expertise he brought to the job.
When he first took the job, Lee hadn’t
bargained on the travel requirements,
but every time “the old man” went abroad
(Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan
were all “the old man” to Lee and his
colleagues), a communications team
went with him. Lee has particularly
fond memories of his times on President
Reagan’s ranch, when the president
would go out for a horseback ride or
banter with the staff while he chopped
wood. Lee and a team would be there in
the convertedmotorhome called “Coyote”,
which accompanied the president by
cargo plane whenever he was on the
move and served as the team’s off-site
communications center.
Another travelling communications
Resident Profile:
Lee Forster
Behind the Scenes at the White House
Lee Forster’s 24-year Air Force career included serving eight years as a telecommunications specialist in the White House. His
job often involved traveling overseas with the president as part of a communications team.
