Power Shifts in Plan for Capital Calamity

[jakeXT]

Power Shifts in Plan for Capital Calamity

By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN
Published: July 27, 2009

WASHINGTON — A shift in authority has given military officials at the White House a bigger operational role in creating a backup government if the nation’s capital were “decapitated” by a terrorist attack or other calamity, according to current and former officials involved in the decision.


The move, which was made in the closing weeks of the administration of President George W. Bush, came after months of heated internal debate about the balance of power and the role of the military in a time of crisis, participants said. Officials said the Obama administration had left the plan essentially intact.

Under the revamped structure, the White House Military Office, which reports to the office of the White House chief of staff, has assumed a more central role in setting up a temporary “shadow government” in a crisis.

And the office, a 2,300-person outfit best known for flying Air Force One, has taken on added responsibilities as the lead agent in shepherding government leaders to a secure site at Mount Weather in rural Virginia, keeping classified lists of successors and maintaining computer systems, among other operational duties. Many of these types of tasks were previously handled by civilians at other agencies, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Supporters of the plan inside the Bush White House, including Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, saw the erratic response to the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as a mandate for streamlining an emergency response process they considered clunky because it involved too many agencies.

..

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/us/politics/28continuity.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14654


So the decider decided to make it more centralized

[Bolo Boffin]

1. I think we're looking at this with different assumptions.

I see a way for the current government to continue operating should the physical facilities it currently uses be rendered incapable of serving the government's needs. There is also a plan for succession, something we've been dealing with since the Constitution was negotiated.

What do you see?

[Ohio Joe]

2. You are exactly correct

I've spent most of the last 20 years working on this shit, with various companies (they call it business continuity), the state of Ohio (I helped write their "plans") and with the state of Ohio in conjunction with the feds (I just sat in on meetings there). This is my absolute favorite CT, I love to see them frothing about it, some of the funniest shit comes out on this topic :D

[jakeXT]

3. It's interesting how things have changed since 911 and especially the role of the military

"internal debate about the balance of power and the role of the military in a time of crisis, participants said."


In 2001 there was no NORTHCOM, the US was blank and Africom belonged to USEUCOM
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/linkscopy/AmalgumVirgo.pdf (page 7)




Discussing the hypothetical dangers posed to the U.S. in the wake of Sept. 11, Franks said that “the worst thing that could happen” is if terrorists acquire and then use a biological, chemical or nuclear weapon that inflicts heavy casualties.

If that happens, Franks said, “... the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy.”

Franks then offered “in a practical sense” what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.

“It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.”

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/11/20/185048.shtml

They are certainly eaeger to help



Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak
Story Highlights

From Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.

The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command's Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

..
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/07/28/military.swine.flu/