When Vfill Atlason, a 16-year-old Icelandic high school student, decided to call the White House, he had no idea how much attention he would receive.
Atlason called President George W. Bush’s reportedly secret telephone line, introducing himself as Lafur Ragnar Grmsson, the genuine president of Iceland, and demanding a private meeting with him.
Vfill told ABC News in an interview, “I just wanted to talk to him, have a chat, invite him to Iceland and see what he’d say,”
The young man did not dial the private number, but rather 202-456-1414, the West Wing’s main switchboard, according to White House spokesperson Emily Lawrimore. That was not to be the case, though. ABC News received the number from the student. It is, in fact, a White House switchboard extension that connects to a security command post office in the White House’s neighboring building.
Vfill’s mother, Harpa Hreinsdottir, a local high school teacher, confirmed that her son did get through to a private phone.
“This was not a switchboard number of any kind,” she told ABC News, “it was a secret number at the highest security level.”
Vfill believes he was passed around to a number of persons who interrogated him about President Grmsson’s date of birth, where he grew up, who his parents were, and when he took office.
He described it as “going through checkpoints.” “However, I had Wikipedia and a couple of other sites open, so it wasn’t too difficult.”
When Vfill finally reached President Bush’s secretary, he claims he was ordered to wait for a call from Bush.
“She told me the president was not available at the time, but that she would mark it in his schedule to call me back on Monday evening,” he said.
“The police chief said they were under orders from U.S. officials to “find the leak” — that I had to tell them where I had found the number,” he said. “Otherwise, I would be banned from ever entering the United States.”
Instead, police arrived at his home in Akranes, a fishing village approximately 48 kilometers from Reykjavik, and took him to the local police station, where the 16-year-old was interrogated for several hours.
“The police chief said they were under orders from U.S. officials to “find the leak” — that I had to tell them where I had found the number,” he said. “Otherwise, I would be banned from ever entering the United States.”
Vfill maintains he has no idea where the number came from.
“I just know I have had it for a few years,” he told ABC. “I must have gotten it from a friend when I was about 11 or 12.”
Atlason’s mother, Harpa, who was not at home at the time, said she was surprised to learn that her son had been arrested, but she couldn’t bring herself to be mad with him.
“He’s very resourceful you know,” she said. “He has become a bit of a hero in Iceland. Bush is very unpopular here.”
Vfill was later returned to his parent’s custody, and no charges against the high school student have been filed.
