White House Continuity of Government Plan

Background

http://whitehouse.gov1.info/continuity-plan/index.html

Since the days of the Cold War, the United States has had a plan in place to continue the operation of the government following a catastrophic attack on the nation's capital. Because of its sensitive nature, details from the classified "Continuity of Government Plan" have been kept secret, even from Members of the House Homeland Security Committee. As further proof that the Obama Administration is the most open and transparent in history, the White House has decided to brief the American People on this important program.

National Continuity Plan

The 2007 "National Security Presidential Directive 51" directs the geographic dispersion of leadership, staff, and infrastructure in order to maintain the functions of the United States Government in the event the nation’s capital is “decapitated” by a terrorist attack.

Buried deep within the 98-page National Continuity Plan is the strategy for the mass evacuation and relocation of every federal government agency including The White House and the military in response to an exceptional catastrophic event within the National Capital Region. Each agency is required to have a detailed Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) in place.

The Shadow Government

Following a catastrophic national emergency, the President, or his successor can authorize the establishment of a temporary "shadow government" to maintain control of the essential functions of the Federal Government. President Bush activated the shadow government on September 11, 2001 shortly after the second attack on the World Trade Center.

Every federal agency has designated key individuals to be part of an "Emergency Relocation Group". These ERGs are assigned to an alternate secure location on a rotating basis and are ready to take over the duty of supporting the National Essential Functions of this nation in an emergency.

National Essential Functions (NEFs)

COGCON Levels

The Continuity of Government Readiness Conditions (COGCON) system establishes executive branch readiness levels based on possible threats to the National Capital Region. The President alone determines and issues the COGCON Level.

COGCON Alert and Notification Process

When the President directs a COGCON change, all executive departments and agencies are notified:

1. White House Military Office Director notifies Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) located in the bunker under the East Wing
2. PEOC notifies the FEMA Operations Center (codename Bluegrass) located at Mount Weather in Bluemont, Virginia
3. FEMA Operations Center notifies Department and Agency COOP Emergency Points of Contact and/or Emergency Operations Centers

Presidential Line of Succession

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 sets the order of Presidential Succession. This order is followed if the President dies or is incapacitated. The order of cabinet officers included in the list is determined by the dates on which each of their positions was created:

• Vice President
• Speaker of the House
• President pro tempore of the Senate
• Secretary of State
• Secretary of Treasury
• Secretary of Defense
• Attorney General
• Secretary of the Interior
• Secretary of Agriculture
• Secretary of Commerce
• Secretary of Labor
• Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Secretary of Transportation
• Secretary of Energy
• Secretary of Education
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Secretary of Homeland Security

Orders of succession are also established for each of above Cabinet officials within their own departments. Ten successors residing within the National Capital Region (NCR) and three successors outside the NCR are identified for all executive departments and agencies. Here is an example of a 2013 Secretarial Order of Succession.

Tracking Individuals in the Presidential Line of Succession

In the past, FEMA maintained the Central Locator System (CLS), which tracked the 24-hour movements of key government officials. This legacy system has been replaced by the Internet Protocol Locator (IPL). A real-time tracking system is incorporated into IPL to identify the location of key officials at all times using Location Based Services (LBS) available from cellular phones and GPS devices implanted in wearable accessories such as pins, earrings, and wristwatches. There are 24/7 Observer Stations responsible for monitoring the status of each key government official to determine his or her location in the event of an emergency

COGCON ZERO:  The Evacuation

Evacuating the President
The President would evacuate via the White House Tunnel System to the Marine One hangar at the Anacostia Naval Support Facility. His ultimate destination would be onboard the E-4B National Airborne Operations Center (NAOB), a highly survivable militarized version of the Boeing 747-200 capable of being refueled in flight. After several days in the air, the President could choose to go to one of the Presidential Emergency Facilities at Mount Weather, Site R, the underground bunker at Camp David, the bunker at Offutt Air Force Base, the new bunker under the Denver International Airport, or other still-classified locations.

Evacuating the Presidential Line of Succession
The U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is responsible for evacuating government officials under the guidance of the classified Concept of Operations Plan CONPLAN 3600: Emergency Preparedness in the National Capital Region. The executive agency and department heads would be transported to classified locations around the country above ground, below ground, and at sea. An Emergency Action Alert sent by the FEMA Alternate National Warning Center in Olney would direct the 1st Helicopter Squadron from Andrews Air Force Base to the Capitol to evacuate the top congressional leaders to the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center. Army helicopters on standby at Davison Army Airfield would evacuate senior Defense officials to the Raven Rock Mountain Complex located six miles north of Camp David. The Secret Service would take the Vice President and top-ranking White House officials down into the underground bunker in the White House.

Main Core: Our Secret Database of Watchlisted Americans

The Main Core database tracks Americans who are considered potential threats in the event of a national emergency. It was first developed in the 1980s using software called PROMIS, which was designed as a case management system by a private company, Inslaw, for federal prosecutors. It provided the ability to track people within the legal system across multiple databases. The PROMIS software was taken from Inslaw via "trickery, fraud and deceit" by the Department of Justice and modified by US intelligence agencies to monitor intelligence operations, agents and targets.

The stolen software had users in multiple federal agencies including Lt. Col. Oliver North who created a secret dissident tracking system under the Reagan Administration's Continuity of Government program. The NSA's Domestic Surveillance Directorate is now the main source of intelligence feeding into the modern version of the Main Core system. The database includes domestic e-mails, internet searches, bank transfers, credit card transactions, travel, phone, and other records allowing authorities to identify and locate those deemed 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously in an emergency.

COGCON ZERO:  The Military's Role in Civilian Control Under Martial Law

NORTHCOM also has the important responsibility for ensuring the safety of our citizens during the expected chaotic unrest. The classified CONPLAN 3502 - Civil Disturbance Operations gives the military the authority to establish operational zones across the country to enforce law and order upon the U.S. civilian population.

Upon activation, troops would report to their assigned "Civilian Control District". The military would impose curfews until the chaos subsided. Citizens would be required to carry identification at all times. The civilian judicial system would be temporarily halted until full order was restored.

Military forces would have the authority to imprison rioters, looters and other civilians committing criminal offenses. Anyone failing to heed the orders of the military would be arrested and held in temporary detention camps until the civilian judicial process was restored. Special military units acting under the authority of classified JCS CONPLAN 0300-97 would detain Main Core watchlisted individuals in the Special Circumstances Section of the federal detention camps.

COGCON ZERO:  Expanded Executive Powers

In 2012, President Obama issued two Executive Orders that will greatly expand his executive powers in the event of a national emergency. The March 2012 Executive Order gives the President the authority to commandeer all U.S. domestic resources, including food and water, and seize all energy and transportation infrastructure within the United States. The order also allows authorizes the U.S. Government to force its citizens to fulfill labor requirements for the purposes of national defense. The July 2012 Executive Order gives the Department of Homeland Security authority over private communication networks in emergency situations.

Under a recent Cybersecurity Act, President Obama has the right to shut down parts of the Internet in times of an emergency. This would be accomplished by having the National Security Agency shut down key Domain Name Servers, which would effectively act as a "kill switch'.

The White House believes the ability to rapidly expand Presidential Powers in a crisis is a matter of National Security. Because it is impossible to anticipate every possible catastrophic scenario, draft Presidential Emergency-Action Directives (PEADs) have been prepared in advance allowing the White House to fill in the blanks as needed during a crisis.

National Exercise Program (NEP)

In the past , National Level Exercises (NLE) were scheduled on an annual basis. The Eagle Horizon continuity exercise focused on coordination between federal agencies and tested the federal executive branch continuity alert, notification, and deployment procedures as well as interagency continuity communications. Emergency Relocation Group members were sent by their respective agencies to pre-planned alternate locations and asked to implement COOP procedures.

In 2012, the National Level Exercise focused on responding to a major cyber incident impacting our nation’s critical infrastructure. NLE 2011: a catastrophic earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone; NLE 2010: detonation of an improvised nuclear device; and NLE 2009: intelligence and information sharing after a terrorist event outside the U.S.

Beginning in 2013, the National Exercise Program will change its format to a two-year progressive exercise cycle involving more frequent smaller drills and exercises and culminating in a National Level Exercise at the end of the two-year cycle. The NLE will include participation from command posts, emergency operation centers, intelligence centers, and federal, state, local and private sector facilities. The next NLE Eagle Horizon will be conducted in 2014 and focus on the response to a domestic terrorist incident involving a biological attack.

The operational authority for the Continuity of Government was shifted from the civilian Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the White House Military Office in early 2009, giving the White House full control over this important national security program. Lisa Monaco, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism serves as the current National Continuity Coordinator.