The Minority Report

Originally appointed by the Senate as John Anderton’s new assistant (and eventual successor), Ed Witwer is a firm believer in the Precrime system, arguably to the point of idealism, and feels that it runs “quite well” (71). Anderton, with a clear amount of bias, considers him to be “overly-confident,” “too-friendly,” “clever,” and ambitious (71-72). Witwer is somewhat flippant toward his elders, describing the Senate’s reaction toward Anderton’s success with Precrime “[a]s enthusiastic as very old men can be” (72), which does not endear him to Anderton. Witwer’s inexperience also shows when he encounters the precogs for the first time and expresses “shame and moral shock” at their condition (73). This is his first recognition of the flaws of the Precrime system, and this—combined with his inexperience with politicking—will humble him by the end of the story.

Witwer is decisive and quick to act; less than 24 hours after Anderton receives his punchcard, Witwer publicly announces the manhunt for Anderton, and therefore his own position as acting-Precrime commissioner. This move leads Anderton to (temporarily) believe Witwer has framed him. Witwer continues to make public broadcasts for the first half of the story, revealing himself to be a man with clear-cut morals who values transparency. However, he is slow to act when Anderton returns to the Precrime agency to view the precog reports; he captures Wally Page, albeit “for the wrong reason” (93), but not Anderton, at least until Anderton returns under his own volition. Witwer also does not realize Kaplan is the mastermind behind the murder plot until Anderton explains the situation to him.

In the last third of the story, Witwer, originally a foil to Anderton, becomes his ally—his “assistant,” though Witwer is still nominally in charge. He allows Anderton access to all three precog reports (which he has seen but does not fully understand) and helps arrange for Anderton to get close to Kaplan in order to assassinate him. He does stay true to his morals, however, insisting that Anderton be punished for the murder according to Precrime law, and he shows clearer self-knowledge in his open (if polite) admission that he wants Anderton’s job. As a final favor, Witwer agrees to exile Anderton rather than send him to a detention camp. During their final exchange, he asks for clarification regarding the minority report(s), as well as advice for future cases, demonstrating his acknowledgment of their mentor/protégé roles and his new awareness of his lack of experience. Witwer’s character arc parallels Anderton’s in that he too must learn to swallow his pride, though he is still generally traveling upward in life, whereas Anderton is on the way down.

A man wearing many (albeit related) hats, Leopold Kaplan is the former “General of the Army of the Federated Westbloc Alliance […] [r]etired, since the end of the Anglo-Chinese War, and the abolishment of AFWA” (79). It later emerges that he is in charge of “an unusual kind of exclusive veterans’ organization [...] a kind of club, with a few restricted members. High officers only [...] from both sides of the war” (89), called the International Veterans’ League (92). During his first meeting with Kaplan, Anderton describes him as “elderly, perhaps seventy or older, [...with] a slim silver cane. His [...] attitude curiously rigid” (79).

From the beginning, Kaplan shows his instinct for self-preservation. He claims to want Anderton in police custody “[f]or [his] own protection” (80), though he also expresses both curiosity about Anderton (since Anderton is meant to kill him but they are strangers) and apparent acceptance of predestination/support for the Precrime system: “I’m not going to have you destroyed, or it would have shown up on one of those miserable little cards” (79), he tells Anderton.

Kaplan is also quietly intelligent and keenly observant; he plays on Anderton’s suspicions from their first meeting, giving him just enough of the facts to send him in the exact (and incorrect) direction in which Kaplan wants him to go. Kaplan is a skilled manipulator, sending his men to both kidnap Anderton and undermine his formerly unshakeable belief in the Precrime system; he then arranges for Fleming to approach Anderton as a neutral ally and assist him in proving his innocence. Kaplan is clearly a man of resources, for the house in which Anderton meets him is a “luxurious private residence” (79), and the package Fleming gives Anderton contains fake identification and “ten thousand dollars in bills” (84). Anderton even considers going to Kaplan for protection, as “[h]e’s quite powerful” (89).

For all that Kaplan acts “with angry impatience” during his first appearance (79), he knows how to play the long game. Wally Page (Anderton’s supposedly loyal subordinate) is Kaplan’s spy, and Kaplan’s henchman Fleming follows Anderton extensively before his deceit is accidentally revealed in the police getaway aircraft. Kaplan also uses his own power and inside knowledge as an army general to acquire copies of the precog reports, taking advantage of Witwer’s naivete as acting-commissioner and the distraction caused by Anderton’s appearance at/attempted escape from Precrime headquarters.

However, Kaplan’s pride and greed are his undoing. Once Anderton allies with Witwer and Lisa and pieces together Kaplan’s motives, Kaplan’s plot is revealed, and he goes from being the puppeteer to the puppet. Power-hungry literally to the death, he is taken by surprise when Anderton kills him; his character arc is an unraveling of self rather than mature development. If Witwer is the depiction of idealistic youth and Anderton the mature adult, Kaplan is the male equivalent of the crone archetype, the last vestiges of a bygone era.

Fleming, originally depicted as a neutral ally from a “protective society [...] that watches the police” (83), is later revealed to be “an Army Major attached to the Internal Intelligence Department of Military Information [... and] under the special protection of [...] the International Veterans’ League” (92). On Kaplan’s orders, Fleming “rescues” Anderton from Kaplan’s henchmen under the guise of aiding Anderton. Like Kaplan, Fleming shows an aptitude for manipulation, playing on Anderton’s fear of betrayal while simultaneously professing friendship and security.

While Fleming is usually adept at his job as Kaplan’s right-hand man, he fails by sheer accident, proving that while he is intelligent, he is not as omniscient as Kaplan. Fleming is a large man and usually dominates the scenes in which he appears (see “Guns as Power” below), but as soon as he is no longer in control, he is quite literally incapacitated (92). His true strength lies in secrecy and deceit; once Anderton discovers the truth, Fleming is powerless and disappears from the story.

Originally presented as Anderton’s loyal subordinate, Page clearly enjoys a large amount of trust at the Precrime agency: During Witwer’s tour of the facility, Anderton gives a set of precog punchcard prophecies to Page and tells him to “[u]se [his] own judgment” to sort them (74). This demonstration of trust surprises Witwer, and Anderton explains that corruption in Precrime is impossible because it sends a duplicate set of punchcards to the army: “They can keep their eye on us [Precrime] as continuously as they wish” (74).

This turns out to be an ironic statement because Page is actually an army spy, though Anderton only realizes this fact after Page betrays him. In another ironic twist, Page is the only Precrime agent Anderton trusts enough to contact about viewing the minority report. Page tries to dissuade Anderton from his quest (although he only says this once Anderton has already returned to Precrime) and seems nervous about the risks to his own position in aiding a wanted criminal. Whether his relationship to Anderton influences his motives at all is unclear, but his loyalty to Kaplan remains constant.