AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I will answer short, to-the-point questions on all aspects of
American politics -- legislative, executive, and judicial for
the federal government and all fifty states. I use the Lexis-Nexis
database for information concerning court cases in the state courts,
the U. S. District Courts, and the U. S. Supreme Court.
I do NOT have the time to work with lengthy problems or to read
and evaluate papers.
Experience I have been politically in a PAC since 1986 and have served state
government in an information capacity since 1980.
I have been a volunteer at the grammar and writing site at allexperts.com for more than two years.
Expert: Ted Nesbitt Date: 12/24/2004 Subject: Ted, this is just a note to...
Question Ted, this is just a note to let you know that
Brenda is not a student and that this was not any class project. I can understand that you would think that if you have gotten so many questions like this. I'm 57 years old and live on the coast of La. and haven't been to school in a very long time. I've been reading that there is a slight chance of the terrorist get their hands on one of the missing nuclear suitcase bombs from the U.S.S.R. I know how it would go up until the Speaker but I was just wondering what would happen if the entire congress was also killed and D.C. destroyed. I guess this is a question on many others's minds, also. Hopefully, we will never need to find out. Take Care and Merry Christmas
Answer Dear Brenda:
I apologize again. You caught me at a very bad time. The student that I was to pick up at the Pittsburgh airport yesterday did not arrive on the flight. I was at the airport for six hours -- a new airport that was a wonderful place BEFORE 9/11, with a small "terminal" that was essentially for baggage pickup and rental car agencies. The main terminal -- about 10 times larger -- is located by subway trains under the runways.
Because of the terrorists' threats, of which you wrote, no one is allowed on the subway trains until they have been thoroughly inspected and have their tickets. An elderly lady -- she was in her 80s and walked with a cane -- told me that she had been chosen for a "private-room examination" to be stripped searched for weapons, etc. She refused and cancelled her Christmas trip to visit her grandchildren in Boston. One must question the sanity of the airport security people!
My student, I found out by calling the Philadelphia immigration service today -- 24 hours after my speaker went missing -- had been deported to his home country of Kenya, because, allegedly, his papers were not in order. He had checked with the immigration people before he went home to his murdered brother's funeral, and the papers were in order then!
He was not allowed to make a telephone call. He took care of my mother when she was dying in a nursing home last year. That's how I met him. His coming to the U. S. was sponsored by a Catholic mission. He was attending the college where I teach. The INS people in Philadelphia refused to give me ANY information, until I asked for their names and mentioned contacting my senators, Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller. His cousin is still here and we have spent the last 24 hours trying to get information. It is a very, very sad Christmas.
His brother was a policeman in Nairobi, Kenya, and was murdered by terrorists in that country.
Anyway . . . enough of my problems. A few years ago, LONG BEFORE the attacks on 9/11, Tom Clancy foretold of the disasters of using commercial aircraft as "weapons" against government buildings. I forget which novel it was, but everything thought how "fictional" and "unbelievable" the conditions would be. As I recall, the plane crashed into the U. S. Capitol building during the president's annual "State of the Union" address. All members of the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the president's cabinet were killed.
For some time, there has been a "procedure" or "tradition" in effect, when the government leaders are together in one place . . . just in case something catastrophic happens.
ONE member of the president's cabinet is chosen -- supposedly by drawing lots or being personally asked by the president -- to stay behind. Usually, the cabinet member is low on the list. Certainly no one very important, like the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense or the Vice President, ever is chosen. They must be on public display. The chosen person is usually from some lesser office, such as the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of Commerce.
In effect, then, if all the members of the Congress are killed, this lowly cabinet officer who is placed in a "bunker" far away from Washington, would become the new president.
When the impeachment trial of former president Clinton was in session, the cabinet member chosen by the president to be "absent" was Secretary Cuomo: " But where was Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo? This Kennedy in-law and son of former NY Governor Mario Cuomo was the only Cabinet Member missing from the traditional Joint Session of Congress. That's because he was the designated absentee, the person whom the president asks to stay behind. It's a safeguard just in case the Capitol is bombed while most of the Members of Legislative, Judiciary and Executive branches of government are inside. This way, at least one top government official would survive to run the country. Mr. Cuomo had a full presidential Secret Service detail while he watched the speech on TV from his living room."
So, Brenda, there is a provision of presidential succession, in the event of a catastrophe. When former president Harry Truman was the victim on an attempted assassination and members of the House of Representatives were attacked by Puerto Rican nationals IN the Capitol, a new law of "presidential succession" was passed:
The Order of Presidential Succession
(under the Succession Act of 1947)
President
Vice President
Speaker of the House of Representatives
President Pro Tempore of the Senate [the longest serving senator of the majority party in the senate, now Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska -- a Republican]
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
************
The newest cabinet member, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is currently at the bottom of the list -- the list was made in 1947 in the order of when the various departments were first made, and new department secretaries were added on to the original listing. Up until just recently, the newest member WAS the Veterans Affairs secretary.
A bill has been introduced that would move the Secretary of Homeland Security further up the list, because of the importance of his/her position, in light of the terrorists' attacks. That bill has not yet been passed [enacted into law].
Incidentally, I found the Tom Clancy novel I mentioned above:
Debt of Honor /Debt_of_Honor>/Executive Orders by Tom Clancy (1994/1996): After the Vice President resigns following a sex scandal, National Security Advisor National_Security_Advisor> Jack Ryan is appointed to fill the position for the remainder of the term. During a joint session of Congress he is confirmed by unanimous voice vote. Before he is sworn in, however, a crazed pilot crashes his fuel-laden 747 into the capitol (in an attack eerily similar to 9/11 killing almost everyone inside, including the President. Ryan, who barely escapes, is sworn in as the new President, but the legitimacy of his administration is challenged by the former Vice President, who claims he never really resigned.
I hope I have thoroughy answered your question. Let us hope and pray that this catastrophe never occurs.
Merry Christmas [I still say that, despite the ACLU!] and Happy New Year.
