Posted on 02/28/2002 9:38:44 PM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Mar 01, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- AP White House Correspondent
The Bush administration has activated Cold War-era plans for a "shadow government" consisting of 75 or more senior officials who live and work secretly outside Washington in case the nation's capital is crippled by terrorist attack, a senior government official said Thursday night.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation has been in effect since the first hours after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but has evolved over time.
Originally designed to help the government withstand Cold War nuclear threats, the shadow government plan was activated out of heightened fears that the al-Qaida terrorist network might obtain a portable nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, but the risk was great enough to warrant the activation of a plan dating to the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the official said.
Under the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan," first reported by The Washington Post, high-ranking officials representing their departments have begun rotating in and out of the assignment at one of two fortified locations along the East Coast.
The Post said the first rotations were made in late October or early November, a fact confirmed by a senior government official late Thursday.
Officials who are activated for the duty live and work underground 24 hours a day, away from their families, according to the Post. The shadow government has sent home most of the first wave of deployed personnel, replacing them most commonly at 90-day intervals.
A government official who spoke to The Associated Press said the groups usually number 70 to 150 people, depending on the level of threat detected by U.S. intelligence. He said Bush does not foresee ever needing turn over government functions to the secret operation, but believed it was prudent to implement the long-standing plan in light of the gathering war on terrorism and persistent threats of future attacks.
The team, drawn from every Cabinet department and some independent agencies, would seek to prevent the collapse of essential government functions in the event of a disabling blow to Washington, the official said.
The underground government would try to contain disruptions of the nation's food and water supplies, transportation links, energy and telecommunications networks, public health and civil order, the Post reported. Later, it would begin to reconstitute the government.
The government-in-waiting is an extension of a policy that has kept Vice President Dick Cheney in secure undisclosed locations away from Washington. Cheney has moved in and out of public view as threat levels have fluctuated.
As next in line to power behind President Bush, he would need help running the government in a worst-case scenario
"We take this issue extraordinarily seriously, and are committed to doing as thorough a job as possible to ensure the ongoing operations of the federal government," Joseph W. Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff, told the Post, though he declined to discuss details. "In the case of the use of a weapon of mass destruction, the federal government would be able to do its job and continue to provide key services and respond."
According to the Post, the backup government consists generally of officials from top career ranks, from GS-14 and GS-15 to members of the Senior Executive Service. The White House is represented by a "senior-level presence," one official said, but well below such Cabinet-ranked advisers as Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Many departments, including Justice and Treasury, have completed plans to delegate statutory powers to officials who would not normally exercise them, the Post said. Others do not need to make such legal transfers, or are holding them in reserve.
The report said civilians deployed for the operation are not allowed to take their families and may not tell anyone where they are going or why.
The two sites of the shadow government make use of local geological features to render them highly secure, the Post said. They are well stocked with food, water, medicine and other consumable supplies, and are capable of generating their own power.
By RON FOURNIER
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
My greatest fear has been that they would nuke D.C., and I knew from the SOTU speech that it was President Bush's greatest fear, and that everything he is doing on the world stage is to prevent that.
Now, at least, I know what Tom Ridge is doing, and why we hardly ever see him doing it.
There is another thread on the same story if you want to see the comments on that thread. The link for the other thread is:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/637614/posts?page=21#21
Do you mean to tell me that someone at the White House leaked this kind of information to those jerkwads at The Washington Post!
I would guess that Joe Albaugh, the FEMA Director, and Tom Ridge, head of Homeland Security could have offices at Mount Weather.
If the shadow government is smart they will have more than one bunker to move between as the Russians have mountain bunker busting nukes on their ICBMs which are also effective against hardened nuke silos.
Senator Barbara Boxer - Chair of the Subcommittee on TerrorismColleagues Trust Condit On Intelligence Committee
More Gary Condits Probably On Intelligence Committee
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Says No Great Intelligence Failure in Attacks
Senator Joseph Biden, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Ridge Facing Major "Doubts" on His Ability
Are the Munsters running "Homeland Security?" You decide
Shadow Government of The United States and the Decline of America
CLINTON CRANKS OUT LAST-MINUTE EXECUTIVE ORDERS
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
George W. Bush - Transition of Power: President-Elect Bush Meets With Congressional Leaders on Capitol Hill - Aired December 18, 2000
Source
Now you know where Dick Cheney has been. This is not Mt. Weather, btw. The cover on that has been blown. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Cheyenne Mountain has been used off and on.
Cheney has been supervising the command and control of this outfit. This gets back to the nuclear survivability questions that occured during the cold war.
It shows a high degree of professionalism that the Bush people do this.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
...secure until some moron leaves the secret instructions at the souvenir shop...
As for the "shadow government" thing,it would be stupid for them to not do this.
I don't know if a move so obvious Ray Charles can see it could be considered to be a "leak". More of a verification.In other words,non-news.
I don't want to live underground, but rather, I prefer a remote Caribbean beachfront.
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