Matt Damon's Mother? Am I Nuts Or What?

July 22, 1998
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW #136
Washington, DC 20008-4530

Nancy Carlsson-Paige
Prof. of Education
Lesley College
29 Everett Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
(617) 868-9600

Dear Professor Carlsson-Paige:

During the period March 1988 to October 1991 I was employed as a legal assistant at the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld ("Akin Gump"). Attorney managers at Akin Gump terminated my employment effective October 29, 1991 upon determining, in consultation with a psychiatrist, that a complaint of harassment I had lodged against several co-workers was attributable to a psychiatric symptom ("ideas of reference") prominent in the psychotic disorders and typically associated with a risk of violent behavior. See Freedman v. D.C. Dept. of Human Rights, D.C. Superior Court no. MPA 95-14 (final order issued June 10, 1996). In the period immediately after my job termination senior Akin Gump managers determined that it was advisable to secure the office of my direct supervisor against a possible homicidal assault, which it was feared I might commit.

I have been under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service as a potential security risk to President William J. Clinton, and was interrogated at the Washington Field Office by Special Agent Philip C. Leadroot as recently as February 1996 on a referral by high-ranking attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice.

I have also been under investigation by the Federal Protective Service (Jerry McGill, S.A.) incident to concerns, affirmed as genuine in 1996 by then District of Columbia Corporation Counsel--now White House Counsel to President Clinton--Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., that I posed a risk of violence, including armed violence or homicide, at the law firm of Akin Gump.

Pursuant to the investigation instituted by the Federal Protective Service ("FPS") I forwarded a document to the FPS, under cover letter dated September 8, 1997 (copy attached). The document is a somewhat unusual creative piece titled "Significant Moments" that contains references to, among other issues, the creative process, child development, and male friendships.

I request that you disclose to the Washington Field Office of the U.S. Secret Service (Phillip C. Leadroot, S.A., telephone no. 202 435 5100) whether you have at any time been made aware, by any source, of the existence of this document. I enclose a copy of the first page of the document to refresh your possible recollection. I know that you will appreciate the serious nature of any concerns relating to presidential security and that any disclosure you make to the U.S. Secret Service will be full, candid, and truthful.

Background facts that prompt this inquiry are the following:

-- You are the mother of the actor Matt Damon, a film actor and screenwriter, who co-wrote, with his life-long friend Ben Affleck, the screenplay for the Oscar-winning movie Good Will Hunting, a story about a man whose genius is discovered while he is working as a janitor at MIT;

-- You are a professor of early-childhood education;

-- Matt Damon has close professional ties to Steven Spielberg who directed the movie Schindler's List and to the actor Robin Williams who portrayed the nationally-prominent neurologist-writer Oliver Sacks, M.D. in the movie Awakenings.

-- Matt Damon attended Harvard University as an English major.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman