“Spread out!” yells a man in uniform to a
group of combat soldiers huddled together. “One grenade will wipe out all of
you.” That military cliché illustrates the philosophy the U.S. government uses in
selecting a Designated Survivor.
Most of the country’s federal officials attend
major events such as the U.S. State of the Union and the presidential
inauguration. The president, vice president, speaker of the house, cabinet
members, both houses of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and the military
chiefs of staff get packed into the Senate Chamber. Putting all the officials
into one room makes the entire federal chain of command at risk. A cataclysmic
event could kill all the people in charge and leave the United States vulnerable
to a major attack.
One member of the U.S. Cabinet gets selected
as the Designated Survivor. That person stays away from the major event and
gets sequestered to a secret location miles away from Washington, D.C. Secret
Service agents guard the Designated Survivor whose identity remains secret
until after the major event ends.
The selected cabinet member receives deference
from the Secret Service agents who formally address the designee as Mr. or Mrs.
President during his or her several hours of comfortable isolation. The
selected survivor gets an intense training course several days before the day
of isolation. Under a high level of secrecy, the cabinet member gets educated
on how to become president if the worst thing happens. But on the day of the
event, the cabinet member has no official duties except to stay put, enjoy some
excellent dining and watching the events on television as he or she enjoys an
unofficial role as U.S. president.
If the president, vice president, speaker of
the house and members of congress were killed, the survivor would become Acting
President of the United States under the Presidential Succession Act. The
Designated Survivor has to meet the same requirements as any U.S. president; he
or she must be a naturally born citizen and be at least 35 years old.
The designated survivor gets custody of “The
Football,” a 45-pound brief case that travels with the president’s security
detail at all times. Inside the brief case is a list of nuclear strike options
the president would use if the U.S. were attacked. “The Football” remains near
the Designated Survivor, but it remains attached to the wrist of a Secret
Service guard.
The ominous brief case dates back to the
beginnings of the need for a Designated Survivor during the Cold War. During
the height of the Cold War between the United States and the USSR, the U.S.
sustained a 13-day confrontation called the Cuban Missile Crisis. Between
October 16th and the 28th, 1962, President John F.
Kennedy challenged the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to stop stockpiling
missiles from the USSR into Cuba.
The proximity of Cuba to the U.S. caused concern
about nuclear attack from the USSR. Khrushchev backed off and removed the
missiles. Historians often write that the confrontation between the two super
powers was the closest the world came to nuclear destruction.
Keeping The Football with the president and
naming a Designated Survivor started about that time. But the extreme secrecy
about the Cold War events wiped out all historical references that would give
us the exact dates when the first Designated Survivor was named and when The
Football began to be used.
The first official reference we have to a Designated
Survivor is during a presidential address to the joint sessions of Congress on
February 18, 1981. Incoming President Ronald Reagan made the address; Secretary
of Education Terrel Bell was selected as the Designated Survivor.
That leaves a 54-year gap between the first
time a Designated Survivor was used and the first time a public record of the
practice was released 35 years ago. Since then, two women serving as U.S.
Cabinet members have been named Designated Survivors. In 1996, President Bill
Clinton made history when he selected Health and Human Services Secretary Donna
Shalala to be the first woman to hold the honor. President George W. Bush chose
Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2002 as the second woman to be a Designated
Survivor.
This year’s State of the Union had two Designated
Survivors for the first time. They were Orrin Hatch, Republican senator from
Utah, and Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security.
National defense systems would prevent any
attack that could destroy the U.S. Senate Chamber with all the top-level
politicians inside. The Cold War is long over, but forces in the Middle East
are bent on destroying the United States. With that in mind, the mostly
ceremonial custom of selecting a Designated Survivor will remain part of the
country’s heritage.
Thank you for taking time to read this blog. A
new one will be in this space later this month. Meanwhile, view my web site at www.joevlatino.com. That’s where you can get a sample of my
short story writing and an opportunity to read my book “The Device.”
