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Mar. 1st, 2002 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheShadow Government Activated for U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration has activated Cold War-era plans for a "shadow government" consisting of 75 or more senior officials who live and work secretly outside Washington in case the nation's capital is crippled by terrorist attack, a senior government official said Thursday night.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation has been in effect since the first hours after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but has evolved over time.
Originally designed to help the government withstand Cold War nuclear threats, the shadow government plan was activated out of heightened fears that the al-Qaida terrorist network might obtain a portable nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, but the risk was great enough to warrant the activation of a plan dating to the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the official said.
Under the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan," first reported by The Washington Post, high-ranking officials representing their departments have begun rotating in and out of the assignment at one of two fortified locations along the East Coast.
The Post said the first rotations were made in late October or early November, a fact confirmed by a senior government official late Thursday. {snip}
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration has activated Cold War-era plans for a "shadow government" consisting of 75 or more senior officials who live and work secretly outside Washington in case the nation's capital is crippled by terrorist attack, a senior government official said Thursday night.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation has been in effect since the first hours after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but has evolved over time.
Originally designed to help the government withstand Cold War nuclear threats, the shadow government plan was activated out of heightened fears that the al-Qaida terrorist network might obtain a portable nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, but the risk was great enough to warrant the activation of a plan dating to the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the official said.
Under the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan," first reported by The Washington Post, high-ranking officials representing their departments have begun rotating in and out of the assignment at one of two fortified locations along the East Coast.
The Post said the first rotations were made in late October or early November, a fact confirmed by a senior government official late Thursday. {snip}
Comments?