Posted on 03/01/2002 6:04:09 AM PST by blam
Shadow Government Ordered After Attacks, Post Says
Fri Mar 1, 1:42 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has set up a "shadow government" to ensure that the government would continue to operate in the event of catastrophic attack on the U.S. capital, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
The newspaper said in the first hours after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush deployed a "shadow government" of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work outside Washington, in the first-ever activation of a classified "Continuity of Operations Plan."
The report cited three officials with first-hand knowledge of the operation as saying the Cold War era plan was enacted because of heightened fears that the al Qaeda network might somehow obtain a portable nuclear weapon.
The Post said U.S. intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, but officials thought the risk was great enough to justify the expense and deployment of a shadow government.
One participant told the newspaper that the first deployment came "on the fly" in the first hours of turmoil on Sept. 11 and that the plan has evolved into an indefinite precaution.
Under the plan, high-ranking government officials representing various departments have begun rotating in and out of the assignment at one of two fortified locations along the East Coast, the Post said.
A senior official involved in managing the program said the civilian force present in the underground bunkers usually numbers 70 to 150, and "fluctuates based on intelligence" about terrorist threats.
In the event of an attack, 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 report said.
The Washington Post said it agreed to a White House request not to name any of those deployed or identify the two principal locations of the shadow government.
Yes, however....
"A freeper who does the same, is mocked and laughed at by his peers, and from that day forward branded with the scarlet tinfoil"
Dick Cheney's a civilian, last I checked.
You've gotten really funny over the last week, what with boycotting Dell and getting worked up over prudent plans to maintain services in an emergency. And your fellow sittin'-in-my-underwear-on-the-shortwave bunker buddies high five each other like a bunch of high school sophomores.
More evidence that FR is turning into a rubber room.
A good self-barometer is always who one's enemies are. Looks like you are right again!
Yeah, it fills me with a snuggly warm fuzzy feeling everytime he finds me posting and starts ranting against my position. In fact, he's never, ever agreed with me (pubically on a thread or in a FreepMail) about anything. And when I see his constant, almost JBT (hmmmm, that's something to think about) spin on politics, I know that I have stepped down the right path when he does oppose me.
More evidence that FR is turning into a rubber room.
Because as we know, anybody who questions any government policy at all is *INSANE*!
Well, that was the argument in the Soviet Union, but I'm sure you're well versed in that government's workings.
Yeah, sorry to notice that department heads and less than the full allotment of Congress is being planned for in order to actually preserve our government, as opposed to setting up a little cabal of Napoleon's to run our lives. My bad.
Heh.
Are they Morlocks or something?
You speak of the continuation of vital services during a dire emergency as if human beings have to be mirrored like disk drives at a disaster recovery site.
I knew when I heard this that the kooks would be out in force with the NWO nonsense.
You, you don't even know what this is about, apparently. But, you'll run around and scream about it anyway.
That's right. And unmarked black helicopters weren't real until the government said they were.
It was like stepping into a time machine. The equipment and furniture were dated, but not so's a middle-aged guy like me would notice; and everything was absolutely mint. You could probably have eaten off the floors, and all the equipment appeared to be in working order, including the overhead fluorescent lighting.
The point of the article was that the facility had just been decommissioned and was awaiting disposal, and was considered something of a white elephant.
Sounds like just the place for a Texas Tinfoil World Headquarters -- just imagine the conspiracy parties!
I knew when I heard this that the kooks would be out in force with the NWO nonsense.
Oh, you poor, poor man.
You're right, there's nothing to worry about at all. After all, every other plan in the past did in fact try to preserve our Constitutional government whereas this one does not even pretend to do so, but there's nothing to worry about. We can Trust The Leader(tm). That's what the New American dream is all about to you, isn't it? Just Trust The Leader(tm), and don't question anything they do, ever.
Wow, what a nice pleasant fairy cake world you live in. I wish I could unquestioningly accept all government edicts, proposals and plans without thought too! Guess I'll just have to practice harder in the future, so that I can reach the state of zombie like stupor necessary for this to happen, that's all.
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