Continuity of Operations Plan

Continuity-of-operations plans are widely used in the computer security field to provide for occasions where one's critical computer site becomes unavailable due to natural disaster or other calamity. For example, most large banks contract with companies that operate so-called hot sites featuring computer rooms so processing of critical data (e.g. banking transactions) can continue in spite of the primary site's unavailability.

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The U.S. Government has for some time had Continuity of Operations Plans (or Continuity of Government) plans. During the Cold War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower provided by executive order for various measures which were supposed to ensure that the U.S. government would be able to continue in case of nuclear war. For many years these plans were kept tightly under wraps, fearing the public panic that would no doubt follow a relevation that their government was busily planning for post-apocalyptic survial.

The secretive nature of these plans have since created a whole host of conspiracy theories on the supposed "true agenda" of the Continity of Operations program. While much of the government's plans for post-nuclear survial remain secret to this day, the measures that are known are both omnious and controversial.

These measures included construction of secret underground facilities such as "Mount Weather," a hollowed-out nuclear-proof mountain in West Virginia. The public can now tour one such facility, intended to house the entire U.S. Congress, on the grounds of the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Other provisions of the plans included executive orders that designated certain government officials to assume Cabinet and other Executive Branch positions and form a shadow government if the office holders were killed in a nuclear exchange. Some have even alleged that the government has a secret and vast Presidential line of succession indicating which obscure Washinton bureaucrat would become president in the wake of a massive nuclear holocaust.

These Cold War-era plans (both real and rumored) were criticized for, among other things,

1. the danger that unelected persons could assume the Presidency and other appointed offices, using their sweeping emergency powers to create a dictatorship;
2. the vast amounts of money spent on these programs;
3. the contrast between the safe underground hideaways available to high government officials, and the relatively weak or nonexistent measures taken to protect members of the general public from nuclear attack;
4. the idea that the ready availability of shelters would make the Dr. Strangelove types at the Pentagon less averse to nuclear war;
5. the rumored availability of the shelters to unpopular persons such as the Saudi royal family.

Today, the threat of a massive nuclear attack on the U.S. seems remote, and most of the reasons for griping about the Continuity of Government plan have abated. Now, the bunkers are used for more mundane continuity-of-operations purposes, and the government workers who have to put in occasional shifts there complain the facilities are old and musty.

The George W. Bush Administration put the Continity of Operations plan into effect for the first time directly following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. Their implementation involves a rotating staff of 75 to 150 senior officials and other government workers from every Cabinet department and other parts of the executive branch in two secure bunkers in the East Coast. Friends, family and co-workers can only reach them through a toll-free number and personal extensions.

The Bush Administration officially admitted the implementation of the plan on March 1, 2002.

Documents A document named in italics supersedes the following document.

Clinton Administration

• Federal Preparedness Circular 65[?], "Federal Executive Branch Continuity of Operations (COOP)", July 26, 1999
• "Federal Response Plan" [FEMA 9230.1-PL], April 1999
• Presidential Decision Directive 67[?], "Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations", October 21, 1998
• 41 Code of Federal Regulations 101-2, "Occupant Emergency Program", revised as of July 1, 1998
• 36 Code of Federal Regulations 1236, "Management of Vital Records", revised as of July 1, 1998
• Presidential Decision Directive 63[?], "Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP)", May 22, 1998
• Presidential Decision Directive 62[?], "Protection Against Unconventional Threats to the Homeland and Americans Overseas", May 22, 1998
• FPC 65 Federal Response Planning Guidance 01-94[?], "Continuity of Operations (COOP)", December 4, 1994

George H. W. Bush Administration

• PDD 67 National Security Directive 69[?], "Enduring Constitutional Government", June 2, 1992
• FPC 65 Federal Preparedness Circular 61[?], "Emergency Succession to Key Positions of the Federal Departments and Agencies", August 2, 1991
• FPC 65 Federal Preparedness Circular 62[?], "Delegation of Authorities for Emergency Situations", August 1, 1991
• Federal Preparedness Circular 60[?], "Continuity of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government at the Headquarters Level During National Security Emergencies", November 20,1990
• NSD 69 National Security Directive 37[?], "Enduring Constitutional Government", April 18, 1990

Reagan Administration

• Executive Order 12656[?], "Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities", November 18, 1988

Section 202 The head of each Federal department and agency shall ensure the continuity of essential functions in any national security emergency by providing for: succession to office and emergency delegation of authority in accordance with applicable law; safekeeping of essential resources, facilities, and records; and establishment of emergency operating capabilities.

• Executive Order 12472[?], "Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Telecommunications Functions", April 3, 1984
• NSD 69 NSDD 55[?], "Enduring National Leadership" September 14, 1982

Carter Administration

• Executive Order 12148[?], "Federal Emergency Management", July 20, 1979

Eisenhower Administration

• The National Security Act of 1947[?], July 26, 1947

External links and references

• "Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operations" (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd/pdd-67.htm) - Description of the secret Presidential Decision Directive 67, October 21, 1998
• "Federal Executive Branch Continuity of Operations (COOP)" (http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd/fpc-65.htm) - Federal Preparedness Circular 65, July 26, 1999