Shadow Government is at Work in Secret

The Washington Post ^ | Friday, March 1, 2002 | Barton Gellman and Susan Schmidt

[kristinn]

President Bush has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation's capital.

Execution of the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan" resulted not from the Cold War threat of intercontinental missiles, the scenario rehearsed for decades, but from heightened fears that the al Qaeda terrorist network might somehow obtain a portable nuclear weapon, according to three officials with first-hand knowledge. U.S. intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, they said, but the risk is thought great enough to justify the shadow government's disruption and expense.

[kristinn]

Click the source link for the rest of the article.

Got your bunker built ?

[kristinn]

It's a good thing. Really.

[Southack]

The U.S. survives even if D.C. doesn't. I've got no problem with that.

I also expect that I'll be here long after this decision has been forgotten, terrorists or no...

[hinckley buzzard]

Gee, and all along the Clinton crime syndicate thought they were the "shadow government."

[CommiesOut]

Really.

[kristinn]

Not to worry. The Clintonistas have a mirror shadow government in waiting. Have you seen Bruce Lindsey lately ?

[kristinn]

Beat me by that much :-)

[Askel5]

And here I thought the only survivors of nuclear holocaust would be Ronnie (the irascible bum who used to clean the bar at Charlie's) and the cockroaches he'd be eating by the light of the Spud's McKenzie lamp.

I can rest easy knowing the Feds will survive to govern and tax him.

[Ken H]

The term "shadow government" seems perjorative to me.

Is this what the government calls it, or is this the WP's own designation?

[CommiesOut]

In case you spot the creature that casts that shadow, ping me, please.

[Barnacle]

This is a logical concept. However, if the situation in America is uncertain enough to warrant this precaution, why is it that the population at large is not given a clue how to respond to the many threats we now face?

[RightWhale]

90-day intervals

That's what the duty cycle is on nuke missile subs. Are they screening the members of the shadow government as carefully as they do submariners?

[Uncle Miltie]

"Continuity of Operations Plan"

They really should watch their TLAs. This one is begging for "COP-out."

[OKCSubmariner]

BUMP

[CommiesOut]

"Top managers arrived at one of them to find computers "several generations" behind those now in use, incapable of connecting to current government databases."

Good Lord...
Let's hope they can at least play Tetris, the favorite game of the Beltway beaurocrats.

[OKCSubmariner]

FYI

[Squantos]

Could be a problem if it conflicts with tornado season here in poohville eh :o)

I guess I'll just rename the storm /bomb shelter to "shelter" and hope for the best........

Wonder if any old SAC missle crew commanders would care to comment on post nuclear exchange restablishment of political leadership ........ ??? GW's shadow goobermint is nothing new, just redone per se.

Stay Safe OKC :o)

[Ken H]

That is a great question.

This situation demonstrates one of the disadvantages of a Federal government that has involved itself in nearly every aspect of domestic social policy.

Public schools depend on the Feds for funding and supervision. Police departments are increasingly dependent on the Feds for funding, training, and direction. Retirees depend on the Feds for pension and health care.

None of the above was true back in, say, 1900.

If the Federal government had been incapacitated in 1900, society would not have been disrupted anywhere near the what it would be today.

A good start would be for more people to take personal responsibility for their own and their family's safety and well being, and stop looking for the Federal government to do it for them.