Run For Your Lives

It was a normal June afternoon in the Washington, D.C., area—hazy, hot and humid. The main event was preparing for former president Ronald Reagan’s state funeral later in the week.

On Capitol Hill, the normal ebb and flow of tourists, interns and official Washington went on unremarkably. Suddenly, alarms blared, beepers beeped and people began running. “You have one minute to impact!” police reportedly announced. Images of well-dressed men and women sprinting away from the Capitol—some kicking off their shoes—were captured by the media.

But it was all a false alarm. A Beech King Air carrying Kentucky’s governor was inbound to the otherwise-closed-to-GA DCA under a special waiver progra...