Timothy Burnham

Timothy Burnham is a low-level speechwriter for the President of the United States. His home life is difficult because his wife and children have strong political views that conflict with those of the President. His wife kicks him out and divorces him when she discovers that his boss has bugged their car. Burnham goes to live at the YMCA and eventually forms a relationship with Eva, whose father is a Soviet spy.

Burnham's professional life has many complicated issues. He is given Q Clearance, which allows important technical documents related to atomic energy to come to his office. Burnham has no training in these issues and does not treat the security clearance seriously. At many points, he leaves documents lying around or shows them to his girlfriend Eva, who passes them on to the Soviets. Burnham gets a huge promotion based on a silly lie that his...