arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

De Washington Post publiceerde dit dossier over de schaduwregering die opereert in bunkers. De regering zou onder leiding staan van Cheney die de laatste maanden nog zelden in het openbaar verschijnt.
Moet het nog gezegd dat we dit jaar massaal mee moeten doen aan de schitternde Bomspottingcampagne.
Link naar artikel WP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20584-2002Feb28?language=printer

Link naar Bomspotting website
http://www.vredesactie.be

NYT, 1-3-02

March 1, 2002
Shadow Government Ordered After Attacks
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:42 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Activating a Cold War-era plan, President Bush has put in place a ``shadow government'' working in secret bunkers outside Washington in case of a catastrophic attack, administration officials said on Friday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the precautionary operation to ensure the government would continue to operate was put into effect on Sept. 11 in the first hours after hijackers slammed commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington.

``Of course we're taking steps to ensure the continuity of government,'' one U.S. official said. ``Anything else would be irresponsible. We are taking all necessary steps to ensure the job of government can continue in any circumstances.''

Originally designed to withstand Cold War nuclear threats and dating back to the 1953 to 1961 presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, the shadow government plan, first reported by The Washington Post, has been implemented out of fear that the al Qaeda network -- blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks -- might obtain a portable nuclear weapon.

The administration officials stressed that U.S. intelligence had no specific knowledge of any such weapon and that implementation of the government-in-waiting plan was a prudent precautionary measure.

Under the classified ``Continuity of Operations Plan'' reported in The Washington Post on Friday, Bush has deployed a ''shadow government'' of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work in fortified locations outside Washington.

The newspaper said high-ranking government officials representing various departments had begun rotating in and out of the assignment at one of two fortified locations along the East Coast.

A senior official involved in managing the program and quoted by the Post said the civilian force in the underground bunkers usually numbered 70 to 150, and ``fluctuates based on intelligence'' about terrorist threats.

``BUNKER DUTY''

In the event of a disabling blow to Washington, the underground government's first mission would be to prevent the collapse of essential functions, such as containing disruptions of the nation's food and water supplies, transportation links, energy and telecommunications networks, public health and civil order. Later, it would begin to reconstitute the U.S. government.

Drawn from every Cabinet department and several independent agencies, those activated for what some call ``bunker duty'' live and work underground 24 hours a day, away from their families, the newspaper said.

Citing security concerns, the administration officials declined to confirm the details of the Post report. The newspaper said it had agreed to a White House request not to identify any of those deployed or identify the two principal locations of the shadow government.

During the Cold War era, a top-secret bunker was built under a wing of the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia for use by members of Congress and their families in the event of a nuclear attack on Washington. It was declassified in 1992 and is now open for tours.

The shadow government is one of several steps the Bush administration has taken to ensure continuity in the event of a catastrophic attack.

Vice President Dick Cheney's activities and whereabouts have been strictly shielded. He frequently works at a ``secure, undisclosed location'' and rarely appears in the same place as Bush. In a worst-case scenario, Cheney is next in line for the presidency and would need help to run the government.

Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, top leaders of Congress were spirited away, but they came back together on the steps of the Capitol that night in a show of unity.

Bush has also ordered his Cabinet heads to complete explicit succession plans for their departments.

The Post said that within hours of the synchronized attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, military helicopters lifted off with the first wave of evacuated officials. Initially a temporary precaution, the program has been extended indefinitely.