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You can see a video of First Lady Michelle Obama playing ping-pong in China, hear her talk about the importance of studying abroad and view a of picture of her huddling with her daughters with the Great Wall Of China snaking into the distance. What you won’t see, however, is a disclosure of how much her week-long trip in China cost. The White House has a longstanding policy—that stretches back decades—of not commenting on the costs of trips taken by first ladies, vice presidents and presidents. “We don’t discuss costs,” said Brian Leary, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service in a brief telephone interview. And in a pre-trip briefing for reporters, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said “As a general matter, we don’t disclose the details associated with the security of either the President or the First Lady. This question comes up on many trips.” Whenever the president and first lady travel, reporters generally ask about the cost and generally don’t get an answer. The reason given: security. If the White House or Secret Service tells the public how much a trip costs an enterprising person might be able to determine exactly what sort of security protections are used. The last major report on the costs of presidential travel came in 1999, when the Government Accountability Office tallied up (or at least, tried to) the cost of President Bill Clinton‘s trips to Africa, Chile and China. To arrive at the numbers below, the GAO said it compiled information from the multiple agencies involved in the trip and did some calculations about hourly flight costs for the various military planes and helicopters involved in the trek, among other things. | 
