The legislation creating the Secret Service was sitting on Abraham Lincoln's desk, waiting to be signed, on April 15, 1865, the night he was assassinated.

CNN: Secret Service still the best and the brightest

And maybe there is only one thing as difficult as being an Egyptian censor before the revolution, or a secret policeman in any one of a dozen countries in the region now, and that is sitting in a foreign ministry in London or Washington or Paris and being asked to write a paper for tomorrow morning, with the title What Happens Next?

BBC: News - Today - The uncertain Arab summer