1.   Congress gave the board unprecedented power to review and release secret records, and that power set off a struggle to free the records from government vaults.

2.   The politicians and the media insist on talking about the surplus as if it were a truckload of cash stashed away in a government vault.

3.   Small quantities are routinely sent to the government vaults by mail or courier service.

4.   The two teamed up and began a search that has led them to dusty government archive vaults in Washington, D.C., and across Europe.