Resumo de Continuity Of Government - Present & Future

Continuity of government refers to the continued functioning of constitutional government under all circumstances. Arrangements for the continued operation of the federal government in the event of a national emergency or catastrophe are specified in law, policy, and plans, some of which are not public information, given their sensitive, contingent status. This report reviews the public record concerning federal continuity of government arrangements.

As a condition of office, the President swears or affirms a pledge to preserve, protect,and defend the Constitution of the United States, which also requires members of theSenate, the House of Representatives, and the individual State legislatures, as well as all executive and judicial officers of the United States and the several states, to support this Constitution. Arguably, such provisions constitute a basis for these principalgovernment officials, in their separate capacities, to contribute to policy and planning forthe continued functioning of constitutional government under all circumstances. Duringthe latter half of the 20th century, such preparations were conducted earnestly andelaboratively, particularly with the onset of the Cold War and the increasing prospect ofnuclear attack upon the nation. Arrangements for the continued operation of the federalgovernment in the event of a national emergency are specified in law, policy, and plans,some of which are not public information, given their sensitive, contingent status.

The Constitution provides that in the event of vacanciesin the representation from any state, the governor of the affected state shall issue writs ofelection to fill such vacancies or, in the case of a Senate vacancy, may, if so empoweredby state law, make a temporary appointment until an election may be held, in accordancewith state law. plans exist for the protection of the leadership of Congress, evacuationfrom the seat of government being a primary action. Additional details of these plans andcomparable plans of legislative branch agencies, such as the Congressional BudgetOffice, the General Accounting Office, and the Library of Congress, are not publicinformation.

The Constitution provides that, in the event of the deathof the President, the Vice President shall become President. In the event of vacancies inthe offices of both the President and the Vice President, statutory law prescribes the lineof succession, beginning with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, followed bythe President pro tempore of the Senate, and the members of the traditional Cabinet,beginning with the Secretary of State and extending to the other comparable positions inthe order of their statutory creation. Since December 2001, President Bush has signedseveral executive orders prescribing the line of succession within the departments in theevent that a Cabinet secretary is killed or incapacitated.

Federal departments andagencies have been assigned emergency preparedness responsibilities, including planningfor the continuity of government. Aspects of these plans include evacuation of thePresident and other principal executive officials to locales outside of the seat ofgovernment and, in some cases, their relocation at secondary or satellite managementcenters where they shall continue to perform their administrative responsibilities. Variousaspects of emergency or crisis coordination may be conducted by the National SecurityCouncil, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Defense, therecently established Homeland Security Council and Department of Homeland Security,and federal financial management entities.

The Constitution establishes the Supreme Court of theUnited States and prescribes the statutory creation of inferior federal courts, but is silentregarding the continued functioning of the federal judiciary during or after anincapacitating catastrophe. Plans exist for the protection of the justices of the SupremeCourt, but the details of theseplans are not public information. In locales of the UnitedStates where federal courts could not function due to an emergency, the President mighttemporarily declare martial law and vest minimal trial court authority in military tribunalsconvened by commanding officers in the field dispatched to enforce federal law.

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