Slashdot Mirror
Bryson Crash Reveals Threat of Headless Government
Hugh Pickens writes "According to Business Week, the traffic accident that left U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson unconscious and alone in his bashed-up Lexus on June 9 raises questions about why the 10th official in line to succeed the president was left so vulnerable. It also highlights potential gaps in security for senior U.S. government officials, who receive varying levels of protection. 'They lost track of him,' says James Carafano, a terrorism scholar at the Heritage Foundation. 'Post 9/11, that's a bit of a head scratcher.' Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who are high in the line of succession and have national-security responsibilities, are provided protection 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but other federal officials, even in cabinet-level positions or other top posts, often travel without the security details that even a big-city mayor or state governor would be provided. Threats to cabinet-level officials aren't overblown, says Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, who has urged that the government revamp its succession plans and says a nuclear bomb hidden in a suitcase detonated in Washington could leave a headless government. 'The lack of interest in continuity may stem from the same reasons some smart people refuse to create wills, even though failure to do so leaves behind horrific messes for their loved ones,' writes Ornstein. 'Yet the threat is real. Our leaders' failure to establish plans to ensure that our Constitution survives is irresponsible.'"
It's the Secretary of Education we have to protect. So say us all.
Clearly we narrowly escaped what would have been a disaster for our entire nation. Hyperbole much? Gee wiz
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
A book by Tom Clancy, from well before 9/11, which involved most of the US government being wiped out when a plane is crashed into the capitol building during a ceremony that put almost the entire legislative and executive branches in the same building. Was sort of interesting (horrifying?) to see that sort of attack played out a few years later, albeit without the coordination to hit that much of our government in one swoop.
William George
If a suitcase nuke goes off in Washington, "Government continuity" at that high a level is about #273 on our priority list.
I think the Constitution will survive a nuclear holocaust in D.C. just fine. It's a set of intangible ideas. What might not survive it is the One Percent's hold on government by proxy. Which makes me wonder about Ornstein's pedigree given that he would make such a misdirected statement.
Because we're supposed to be a civilized nation that doesn't kill people for difference of political opinion?
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
No, you have to climb into a refrigerator to survive that.
I have one question. If the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture is not in charge of Gundam, then who is?
Congress already lacks brains, ears, eyes, hearts, guts, and balls.
I don't see how being headless would change much.
civilized nation that doesn't kill people for difference of political opinion
lol
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
doesn't have protection, it's that mayors, assistant Governors, and the like do. Seriously, it's not necessary for a mayor to bring a multi-person security detail with them everywhere, nor is it necessary for them to get high speed police escorts where ever they need to drive. We don't live in Afghanistan. It's simply not that dangerous- there are plenty of mayors, governors and the like who *don't* have protection layered around them and there hasn't been a wave of assassination attempts on them.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
The recent U.S. Open reminded me of the previous event at the Olympic Club, held near the end of the last millennium -- 1998. I was working for a company that was a big customer of Cadence. And Cadence put on the dog by inviting us and others to party in San Francisco to celebrate the Open (tickets, too). There were limos, a long pitch from Scott McNealy (2 minutes about Java and 20 minutes about Bill Gate's evil empire), and a performance by Stomp, but the final act was the clincher. It was a renown reporter, whose name escapes me, that was part of the White House press corp during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. He told stories about how the press did not talk about the personal lives of Presidents back then, about how Lyndon Johnson made Bill Clinton, who was being impeached, look like a choir boy, and then the big finish. He told us about a private interview with JFK where he mentioned rumors of a nuke built inside the Russian Embassy, just blocks from the Capitol. Apparently, it was smuggled in pieces using diplomatic exemptions and assembled in a lead-lined room in the top floor. Big enough to wipe out the entire metropolitan area, Kennedy responded, "You know about that, too, eh?"
Yet the threat is real. Our leaders' failure to establish plans to ensure that our Constitution survives is irresponsible.'
The majority of those leaders are a bigger threat to the survival of the Constitution where they are than if they are gone.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Really? Has no one really thought of that before?
The problem with this is that most of the major officials are ELECTED. Unless we want to double the cost of running the government by electing understudies, that would mean the government would be left in the hands of unelected bureaucrats
Sorry, but you're incorrect. Only the top 3 are elected......all the others in line are unelected cabinet members.
US Presidential Line of Succession:
1 Vice President of the United States
2 Speaker of the House
3 President pro tempore of the Senate
4 Secretary of State
5 Secretary of the Treasury
6 Secretary of Defense
7 Attorney General
8 Secretary of the Interior
9 Secretary of Agriculture
10 Secretary of Commerce
11 Secretary of Labor
12 Secretary of Health and Human Services
13 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
14 Secretary of Transportation
15 Secretary of Energy
16 Secretary of Education
17 Secretary of Veterans Affairs
18 Secretary of Homeland Security
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
If a nuke took out DC, the military would take over in about... 15 minutes. Maybe 20. The "chain of command" bullshit is just window dressing for the naive. The banks and the military industrial complex run the USA. Period, end of story. The civilian government is maintained because it give people the illusion they have some political agency. They don't. So if a nuke ever took out DC, the next ruler of the USA would likely be the highest ranking general or admiral available and willing to step up and be the object of disgust. The first thing would be a "calm down, we're fixing this" statement to america, followed by a "we will set up new elections as soon as we can" statement, so the military industrial complex and the banking industry can go back to doing what they do best - looting the treasury in secret.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
On behalf of the American people, if our congressmen are stupid enough to get us into a conflict whereby it would be necessary to swear in someone a dozen people down from the President, then they deserve to burn. Why? Because any conflict that large will have the majority of the US population dead or near death, and Americans don't believe in protecting / rewarding politicians who get us killed.
Putting the instigators in special bunkers, while the innocent have to fend for themselves against nuclear / biological / chemical weapons...it kind of sends the wrong message.
I am John Hurt.
In a republic, the death of individual "leaders" should be unimportant. The strength and continuity of the nation, rests with the people, not the individuals that serve. Elected officials are no different than any other servant of the nation. They are expendable in a very general sense. To dedicate extraordinary efforts to their security seems unbalanced when they are so easily replaced.
It's a false meme to start with. Citation is from the Heritage Foundation, which might as well be the softer branch of the John Birch Society. It's a way to pronounce additional fear, embarrass the Obama Administration farther than it already is, and anchor more false paranoia.
Summary: bad question, designed to be politically subversive to the current administration with propagandized memes.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Back in 1947, the present rules of presidential succession were set up. The present line of succession has 18 people. That ought to be enough.
When this is a real worry, a few of those people should be in a bunker. During presidential inaugurations and presidential speeches to Congress, that's actually done; at least one person in the line of succession is in a safe place far away. It's usually someone far down the list, but in 2001 Dick Cheney (VP) was sent to the "undisclosed location", and in 2003, Ashcroft (AG) got bunker duty. In 2005, 2006, and 2007, the president pro tem of the Senate went to the bunker. In 2009, Holder (the AG) got the duty. Since then, after most of a decade with no significant terrorist attacks, it's back to the low-rankers.
In terms of actual threat, nobody in the US presidential line of succession has ever been assassinated.
This is a problem for which a solution was implemented long ago, back when a major war looked like a likely possibility.
You defend the Heritage Foundation, yet don't know who the Commerce Secretary was.
This is your cognitive dissonance lesson for today.
The legitimacy of the Heritage Foundation is rooted in its founder's ideals, and one of his admirers were specific Birchers. Birchers are very scary people.
The foundation for the post is a political meme that is false and cloying, forwarded and advanced by an organization whose intents are well-defined.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.