From: uni@acs.bu.edu (Shaen Bernhardt)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Presidential Succession History
Date: 14 Oct 92 20:14:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: bu.98665
Followup-To: misc.legal
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

>> In case of
>> nuclear attack or something that wipes out a large number of high
>> officials, what is the line of succession? 
>
>Well, that's what started this whole discussion.  Again, the order is:
>
>Vice-President
>Speaker of the House
>President pro tempore of the Senate
>Secretary of State
>Secretary of the 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
>
>Source: 3 USC 19. 
>
>Terry Carroll - tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com - 408/992-2152
>The opinions presented above are not necessarily those of a sound mind.

However, as almost all if not all of these individuals live or work in the
D.C. area, the following "plan B" exists:

If U.S. Military decisions need to be made immediately because the U.S. was
under attack and the President and his successors were dead, OR COULD NOT
BE LOCATED (My emp.) the Secretary of Defense or his successors have the 
authority to order military forces into action.

Secretary of Defense
Secretary of the Army
Secretary of the Navy
Secretary of the Air Force
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
The Eight Assistant Secretaries of Defense and the General Counsel to the
Defense Department, in order of their length of service.
Under Secretarties of the Army, Navy, and Airforce in order of their length of
service.
Ten Assistant Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Forces in order of their
length of service.         

Of interest here is that almost all of these individuals also live/work
in the D.C. area.  
To show you how well the system works, recall that after the attempt
on Reagan's life then Secretary of State Alexander Haig got on T.V. and
reported: "I am in charge."  Then Vice President Bush was out of town
and Regan hospitalized.  Haig seemed to have over looked the fact that
Then Speaker of the house Thomas O'Neill was next in the line (see above)
Haig was also not (according to the list) in charge of U.S. military forces,
as Secretary of State is not in the succession at all for National Command
Authority.  At the time Casper Weinberger (Secretary of Defense) held 
such power.

 
Also interesting is a story regarding FEMA's effectiveness and the efficency
of JEEP.  (The Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan)
 
In January 1977 National Security Advisor Brzezinski tested the Presedential
emergency evacuation procedure with the following effect.
 
Brzezinski called in the individual in charge of Presidential evacuation and 
asked for an account of the timetable and procedure for Presidential evacuation
(by Helocopter)  After a detailed explanation Brzezinski ordered a IMMEDIATE
simulation (reportedly he pulled out a stopwatch and clicked it on right then
and there.)  Brzezinski and a secretary (simulating the President and First
Lady)
went to the South Lawn to wait for the helo, which took "two and a half times"
longer than expected to arrive.  After the remainder of the exercise the helo 
returned to the White House and was almost shot down by the Presidental
Protection Service.
 
(Sources:  Power and Principle:  Memoirs of the National Security Advisor
 1977-81 & The Nuclear Reader 2nd ed.)
 
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